FICA, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, requires all South African financial institutions (including FSCA-licensed Bitcoin providers) to verify the identity of their clients, conduct risk-based due diligence, report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre, and maintain records of all account activity. For Bitcoin investors, FICA appears as the onboarding process: you provide ID, address, […]
Author Archives: James Caw
Buying R100,000 in Bitcoin is straightforward. You open an account on SimplB or another licensed provider, complete FICA onboarding, transfer rand from your bank, and buy Bitcoin at the live market price. The process takes a few days from start to finish. Buying R1 million or more is a fundamentally different process in several dimensions […]
Most Bitcoin advice is written for investors with a 3 to 5-year time horizon. Buy Bitcoin, hold it while it appreciates, sell when you hit your target. Family offices and family trusts think in 25 to 50-year time horizons. A Bitcoin holding that will outlast the original investor raises questions that short-term investors never encounter. […]
The Trust Property Control Act places personal liability on trustees for the prudent management and safekeeping of all trust assets. A trustee who invests trust funds recklessly, fails to keep proper records, or allows trust assets to be misappropriated faces personal liability. If a trust deed grants the trustee broad investment powers but is silent […]
Africa Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), formerly Altvest, is the first listed company on the JSE to hold Bitcoin as a core treasury asset. The company raised capital specifically to acquire Bitcoin, and now holds a significant position as a treasury reserve. For South African investors, ABC represents a new option: instead of holding Bitcoin directly, you […]
The common rule of thumb for retail investors is that Bitcoin should constitute 1% to 5% of a diversified portfolio. A retail investor with R1 million might allocate R10,000 to R50,000 to Bitcoin. The rule is simple and portable. At family office scale, the framework breaks down. A family office with R500 million in assets […]
Seventy-four percent of ultra-high-net-worth family offices globally are either currently invested in Bitcoin or actively evaluating it, according to BNY Mellon research. In South Africa, the case for family office Bitcoin holdings is distinct from the retail investor case. For a South African family office managing generational wealth, Bitcoin addresses a specific problem that other […]
The 2026 National Budget doubled South Africa’s Single Discretionary Allowance from R1 million to R2 million, effective immediately. This is the first increase in the SDA since 2011 and represents a material expansion of the offshore investment right for South African residents. The timing coincides with the announcement that Bitcoin will be brought under the […]
In 2024, Standard Bank refused to allow its retail customers to trade Bitcoin, claiming legal uncertainty about whether Bitcoin constitutes “capital” under South Africa’s Exchange Control Regulations. The bank was sued by customers demanding the right to trade. The High Court ruled that Bitcoin does not meet the legal definition of “capital” as defined in […]
Most Bitcoin investors do not have a clear mental model of what happens to their data when they buy Bitcoin on a licensed exchange. They know SARS can see it somehow, but the exact visibility is unclear. This article traces the data path from start to finish. At onboarding, you provide identity and financial information. […]