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Regulation· Regulation & supervision

South Africa's FSCA has approved 310 of 533 crypto asset service provider licence applications

South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority said on 15 April 2026 that, as at 31 March 2026, it had received 533 crypto asset service provider (CASP) licence applications under the FAIS Act since licensing began on 1 June 2023, of which 310 were approved, 17 declined and 124 voluntarily withdrawn.

Illustration: cryptobanking.news editorial art (AI-generated, abstract). Not a depiction of any institution or product.Primary source: Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa) (fsca.co.za)
cryptobanking.news Editorial · AI-assisted, source-verifiedT1RegulatorAfrica

Key takeawaysFact

  1. 1South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority said on 15 April 2026 that, as at 31 March 2026, it had received 533 crypto asset service provider (CASP) licence applications under the FAIS Act since licensing began on 1 June 2023, of which 310 were approved, 17 declined and 124 voluntarily withdrawn.
  2. 2It has opened 81 investigations into potentially unlicensed CASPs and conducted 30 AML/CFT inspections of CASPs from April 2025 to March 2026, aiming for 35 in 2026/2027.
  3. 3The FSCA's March 2026 list of licensed CASPs includes First National Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited.
  • Regulation
  • Custody

Executive summaryFact

South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority said on 15 April 2026 that, as at 31 March 2026, it had received 533 crypto asset service provider (CASP) licence applications under the FAIS Act since licensing began on 1 June 2023, of which 310 were approved, 17 declined and 124 voluntarily withdrawn. It has opened 81 investigations into potentially unlicensed CASPs and conducted 30 AML/CFT inspections of CASPs from April 2025 to March 2026, aiming for 35 in 2026/2027. The FSCA's March 2026 list of licensed CASPs includes First National Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited.

Primary source: Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa) ↗

A further 124 applications have been voluntarily withdrawn by applicants following engagements with the FSCA on the appropriateness of their respective business and operating models.

— Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa), verbatimString-matched against the live page 2026-10-23

Key factsFact

Event
Supervisory update
Jurisdiction
Africa
Source
Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa)
Source tier
Tier 1 · Regulator / central bank

Who is affectedFact

Crypto asset service providers licensed or applying under the FAIS Act, including bank divisions on the FSCA's licensed-CASP list.

Key datesFact

  • FSCA CASP licensing process commenced
  • Licensing statistics as at this date

More from the sourceFact

“To date, the FSCA has initiated 81 investigations into potential unlicensed CASP businesses.”

FSCA press release

“The South African Reserve Bank does not currently recognise crypto assets as currency.”

FSCA press release
Verbatim from Financial Sector Conduct Authority (South Africa)✓ string-matched against the live page 2026-10-23

Why it matters for banksAnalysis

South African banks offering crypto services do so as FAIS-licensed CASPs under FSCA conduct and FIC Act AML supervision; the regulator reminds the market that the SARB does not recognise crypto assets as currency.

Editorial analysis based on the facts above and the sources below; not legal or investment advice.

Sources and evidence

Evidence types: how we classify sources.

Evidence

Confidence
High Primary source (regulator / official record); quote string-matched against the live page.
Quote verified
2026-10-23 21:22 UTC
Archived snapshot
Not archived yet
Change log (2)
  1. 2026-10-24 Verify run (deploy): verifiedAt refresh, verify snapshots (c2a86c2)
  2. 2026-10-24 Jurisdictions: 5 verified Tier 1/2 items (CH Federal Council stablecoin/crypto licence consultation, BNM DAIH ringgit stablecoins + tokenised deposits, FSCA CAS (52685db)

Full evidence record · How we label confidence

AIAI-assisted: summary and analysis were drafted with AI from the primary source and are the editor’s responsibility. AI-drafted from the primary source; quote string-matched by scripts/verify.mjs. Methodology · Corrections · Report an error

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