When you buy Bitcoin on an exchange and leave it there, you do not hold Bitcoin. You hold a claim against the exchange. The exchange holds the Bitcoin. This distinction is not a technicality – it is the foundational principle of Bitcoin ownership, and understanding it is the starting point for thinking clearly about custody. […]
Author Archives: James Caw
Most Bitcoin investors spend a significant amount of time thinking about how to acquire and hold Bitcoin. Very few think carefully about what happens to it when they die. In South Africa, the answer to that question depends almost entirely on how the Bitcoin is held – and the difference between a well-considered estate plan […]
There is a widely held belief among South African crypto investors that taxes only apply when you convert cryptocurrency back into rand. As long as you stay within the crypto space, the thinking goes, you have not triggered a taxable event and no tax is owed. This belief is incorrect, and it is one of […]
In 2026, the question of whether a South African Bitcoin provider is FSCA-licensed is not a technicality. It is the single most consequential check you can perform before moving money into Bitcoin. The licensing framework is in place, the register is public, and the distinction between licensed and unlicensed providers carries real implications for what […]
South Africa’s approach to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation has been one of gradual but meaningful progress over the past several years. In 2026, the picture is clearer than it has ever been. The three regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over crypto assets are now working from aligned positions, a licensing framework is operational, and the expectations […]
South Africans have always looked for ways to hold wealth outside the rand. The classic routes – offshore equity, dollar cash, and foreign property – are well understood by most experienced investors. Bitcoin is newer, less familiar, and often dismissed before it is properly compared to the alternatives. This article looks at all three meaningful […]
In January 2005, one US dollar cost approximately R6.20. Today it costs over R18. That is a decline of roughly 65 to 70% in the rand’s purchasing power relative to the world’s reserve currency over twenty years. This is not a crisis event or a temporary disruption. It is the normal, structural, ongoing depreciation of […]
The question South African investors ask most often, once they have decided that Bitcoin belongs in their portfolio, is: how much? It is exactly the right question, and it deserves a more useful answer than “only invest what you can afford to lose” – which sounds prudent but provides no actual guidance on how to […]
When South African investors ask whether Bitcoin belongs in a serious portfolio, the most useful answer is not an opinion – it is the data. This article looks at what the three main asset classes available to South African investors have actually delivered in rand terms over the last decade. Bitcoin, JSE equities, and South […]
When South African investors ask whether Bitcoin belongs in a serious portfolio, the most useful answer is not an opinion. It is the data. This article looks at what the three main asset classes available to South African investors – equities, property, and Bitcoin – have actually delivered in rand terms over the last decade. […]