Crypto.com expands to South Africa with rand wallet – MyBroadband

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has announced that it is launching a rand wallet. However, non-rand fiat wallets would be disabled for its South African customers.

“We have partnered with a local bank to compliantly offer certain products and services that are in line with local regulations, applicable law, and customer demand,” a spokesperson told MyBroadband.

Crypto.com is known for buying the naming rights to the Staples Centre stadium (now the Crypto.com Arena), which is home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

This was in addition to spending large sums on its “Fortune Favours the Brave” commercials starring celebrities like Matt Damon and LeBron James.

The exchange sent a notice to its South African customers on Friday informing them of the coming changes.

“We are pleased to announce that we have made progress in our expansion of services in South Africa,” Crypto.com stated.

“Please be informed that Foris DAX SA (Pty) Ltd will become the contracting entity of the Crypto.‌com App on 10 July 2022.”

To continue using the exchange, customers in South Africa must accept its updated terms and conditions with Foris DAX, which will take over the management of their accounts.

After accepting the new terms, Crypto.com said the following changes would take effect:

• Non-rand fiat wallets will be disabled.
• Any remaining non-rand fiat balances after 10 July 2022 will be converted to USDC (Circle’s stablecoin).
• Other products and services available to South Africans in the Crypto.‌com app will remain unaffected.

“Before 10 July 2022, you can use the remaining non-rand fiat balances to purchase cryptocurrencies,” the exchange stated.

“Rest assured that your funds will remain safe and accessible to you during this transition.”

Crypto.com said no action is required for now and that customers would be notified when they need to do something.

MyBroadband asked Crypto.com for more information about the change, but the company declined to answer directly.

Our questions included why Crypto.com is disabling non-rand fiat wallets for South African users and what its local customers gain from partnering with Foris DAX.

We also asked whether the exchange lost a lot of South African customers because of the Reserve Bank’s crackdown on credit card crypto purchases from offshore exchanges.

Crypto.com suggested that the change is about offering certain products and services in South Africa in compliance with local laws, but did not elaborate further.

“We work with government officials, regulators, and expert counsel to ensure the products and services we offer in any market are compliant and tailored to the local requirements,” the spokesperson for the exchange stated.

“Our customer service team is on hand to deal with any inquiries.”

---

Now read: Crypto protocol tries to take over R3.3 billion deposit with “emergency powers” — reverses after backlash

Subscribe to our daily newsletter