What to\u00a0Know<\/p>\n
Luno CEO James Lanigan says South Africa\u2019s proposed Capital Flow Management Regulations could unintentionally restrict the use of stablecoin.The regulations could make it difficult for businesses to use stablecoins for cross-border payments and repatriation of\u00a0funds.Lanigan argues stablecoins settled approximately $33 trillion in payments and blockchain transfers during 2025, nearly double Visa\u2019s reported payment\u00a0volume.National Treasury and SARB have extended the public comment deadline on the draft regulations from May 18 to June 30, 2026, following industry criticism.Regulators say a separate draft manual will clarify how cross-border crypto transactions will be\u00a0treated.<\/p>\n
As the June 30th deadline for public comment on South Africa\u2019s Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations 2026 approaches, industry leaders such as Luno CEO James Lanigan share their\u00a0views.<\/p>\n
According to James Lanigan, South Africa\u2019s proposed Capital Flow Management Regulations could inadvertently shut the country out of one of the fastest-growing segments of global\u00a0finance.<\/p>\n
His warning is yet another leading voice in the South African crypto industry pushing back against the draft rules. The proposed draft would represent the country\u2019s first major overhaul of exchange controls in six\u00a0decades.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s draft Capital Flow Management Regulations<\/a> propose approval requirements for all crypto transactions above a set threshold.<\/p>\n Per the current proposal, crypto transactions that exceed a yet-to-be-determined threshold would require approval from the National Treasury.<\/p>\n Users seeking approval from the National Treasury will also be required to disclose the purpose of the transaction.<\/p>\n This regulatory oversight applies even when the parties involved in both ends of the transaction are within the\u00a0country.<\/p>\n As early as April, Luno Global has pushed back<\/a> against these new requirements. Now, Luno CEO Lanigan argues the rules, as currently written, could unintentionally restrict how businesses use stablecoins for international settlements and cross-border payments.<\/p>\n National Treasury and SARB extended the public comment deadline from 18 May to 30 June 2026, following industry criticism.<\/p>\n Regulators have also said a separate draft manual<\/a> will clarify how cross-border crypto transactions will be treated, though that document has not yet been released.<\/p>\n Lanigan\u2019s core argument is that stablecoins now function as payment infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n In January, Bloomberg reports<\/a> showed a 72% increase in global stablecoin transaction volumes to $33 trillion. This value is expected to reach $56.6 trillion by\u00a02030<\/a>.<\/p>\n Analysts believe that growth is in part due to favourable policies by the United States, such as the GENIUS\u00a0Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n The scale of stablecoin transactions puts it in direct competition with the card networks. Visa, one of the world\u2019s largest payments processors, handled $17 trillion in transaction volume in\u00a02025.<\/p>\n Lanigan has pointed to those figures to argue that South Africa risks sidelining itself from an infrastructure shift already underway at institutions such as Visa and Mastercard.<\/p>\n For many African businesses, stablecoins are a practical workaround to real operational problems.<\/p>\n Across much of Africa, cross-border payments are slow and expensive. Remittance fees can rise to over 8%<\/a> within the continent. The global average is closer to 6%, and the ideal cost per the UN is\u00a03%.<\/p>\n Fintechs and banks are forced to pre-fund accounts across multiple jurisdictions to keep money moving. Dollar-backed stablecoins<\/a> offer a timely and cost-efficient alternative. Businesses can conduct international business without relying on correspondent banking networks.<\/p>\n Between July 2023 and June 2024, South Africa climbed to number 30 on Chainalysis\u2019s Global Crypto Adoption list<\/a>, making it the fourth-highest-ranked African\u00a0nation.<\/p>\n Stablecoin trading volumes in South Africa exploded from 4 billion rand in 2022 to nearly 80 billion rand ($4.6 billion) by October 2025, according to SARB\u00a0data<\/a>.<\/p>\n That growth reflects genuine demand, not speculation. Luno has said South African firms regularly approach the exchange seeking stablecoin-based settlement solutions. Still, the absence of clear reporting codes and regulatory certainty limits how far that adoption can\u00a0go.<\/p>\n The draft rules require users to declare all crypto holdings within 30 days of the regulations taking effect, and the rules apply even to transactions between two parties located within South\u00a0Africa.<\/p>\n For Yellow Card, which processes transactions across more than 20 markets, stablecoins account for over 99%<\/a> of its transaction volume; for Chipper Cash, with five million users across seven countries, the South African leg of any transaction becomes the compliance chokepoint.<\/p>\n Luno has argued that crypto assets held within South Africa\u2019s licensed crypto service provider ecosystem should be designated as onshore. This classification change would allow for local investment and transactions without triggering cross-border approval requirements.<\/p>\n In February 2026, Luno, Sanlam, EasyEquities, and Lesaka launched ZARU<\/a>. ZARU is a rand-backed stablecoin designed for institutional use cases. It is backed by high-quality rand-denominated assets including cash, bank deposits, and South African government bonds, with reserves audited\u00a0monthly.<\/p>\n A separate rand-backed stablecoin, ZARP<\/a>, is also active in the\u00a0market.<\/p>\n Crypto and stablecoin payments are now accepted at over 650,000 merchants nationwide<\/a> through Scan to Pay and MoneyBadger.<\/p>\n This domestic adoption means the question for South Africa\u2019s regulatory commission is no longer whether stablecoins will be used in South Africa, but under what conditions.<\/p>\n National Treasury\u2019s draft regulations are, so far, the most direct response to legal vulnerabilities in the existing exchange control framework. If passed, it will completely replace the 1961 Exchange Control Regulations with the new Capital Flow Management framework.<\/p>\n The SARB and National Treasury have both said that bringing crypto assets under capital-control oversight is a priority due to risks to financial stability and capital\u00a0flight.<\/p>\n According to EY-Parthenon<\/a>, 13% of global financial institutions and corporations in Africa already use stablecoins. 54% of non-users expect to adopt them in the next six to 12\u00a0months.<\/p>\n Regulatory decisions are being made across the continent to bring cryptocurrency into the fold, even as it has already seen widespread adoption under certain legal frameworks.<\/p>\n As for the Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations 2026, the public comment window remains open until 30 June\u00a02026.<\/p>\n Originally published at <\/em>https:\/\/cryptoafrica.news<\/em><\/a> on June 11,\u00a02026.<\/em><\/p>\n Luno CEO Warns South Africa Could Miss $33 Trillion Stablecoin Economy<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What to\u00a0Know Luno CEO James Lanigan says South Africa\u2019s proposed Capital Flow Management Regulations could unintentionally restrict the use of stablecoin.The regulations could make it difficult for businesses to use stablecoins for cross-border payments and repatriation of\u00a0funds.Lanigan argues stablecoins settled approximately $33 trillion in payments and blockchain transfers during 2025, nearly double Visa\u2019s reported payment\u00a0volume.National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":179267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/179267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Stablecoins Are at the Centre of the\u00a0Debate<\/h3>\n
The Problem Businesses Are\u00a0Facing<\/h3>\n
What the Proposed Rules Could\u00a0Change<\/h3>\n
South Africa\u2019s Local Stablecoin Ecosystem<\/h3>\n
The Broader\u00a0Picture<\/h3>\n