The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has approved 59 license applications from cryptocurrency platforms.
South Africa is one of the first African countries to require digital-asset exchanges to have a permit to operate.
“We are processing those licensing applications and we’re doing so in a phased kind of manner given the numbers,” FSCA Commissioner Unathi Kamlana said in an interview with Bloomberg.
The FSCA gave exchanges a deadline till the end of November 2023 to apply for their licenses or risk facing enforcement action.
The FSCA noted that over 300 crypto-asset providers tried to get approval.
In the interview with Bloomberg, Kamlana said that given the number of those seeking approval the organisation has processed the licensing applications in a “phased kind of manner”.
The FSCA said that is has therefore decided not to a separate framework for cryptocurrency operators.
The FSCA will have oversight over these firms through the the existing Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.
Phishing attacks target cryptocurrency exchanges
Earlier this Kaspersky reported that phishing attacks have grown by 40% in 2023.
According to the data messaging apps, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, social media services, and cryptocurrency exchanges have been the pathways most frequently exploited by threat actors to scam users.
The analysis by the cyber security company said that phishing aimed at stealing crypto wallet credentials remained a common money-making tool.
“Fake pages mimicking popular cryptocurrency sites invited users to sign in with their wallet credentials,” according to the report.
Data from the report noted that scam sites are additionally using cryptocurrency as bait.
“Visitors to the page in the screenshot below were asked to download a “miracle” script to get free bitcoins every day and a massive boost to their crypto income,“ according to the report.
“The description of another programme on this site mentions something illegal: the script supposedly replaces the address of any wallet with the script user’s address and siphons money out of the target wallet. The price of downloading either script was just under $50 (R931),”Kaspersky warned.
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