South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago reiterated the central bank’s longstanding belief that cryptocurrencies, which he calls crypto-assets, fail to meet the standard of what constitutes a currency.
Kganyago explained that cryptocurrencies only meet one of the three characteristics of a currency, which is of being a store of value.
However, it does not meet the characteristics of being a generally accepted medium of exchange and of being a unit of account.
Cryptocurrency is only accepted by those who participate in it, Kganyago emphasized.
But despite adopting this stance, Kganyago insists that the SARB still regulates these assets due to people's investments.
Kganyago praises blockchain technology as useful in many other respects and noted that SARB is experimenting with it.
