Cryptoassets regulation in Africa: RegTech and SupTech considerations

The growth of Financial Technology (FinTech) and new Payments Products and Services is very welcomed as it brings numerous benefits both to businesses and consumers. These products and services, which include: prepaid cards, e-payments, mobile banking services, internetbased payment services and cryptocurrencies or cryptoassets – as they are referred to today – are associated with a myriad of challenges. Cryptoassets are of particular interest in the growth of FinTech as they took the world by storm at the launch of bitcoin in 2009
predominantly as a disruptive technology which was to disrupt traditional banking services.
The reason for this is that they have the potential to facilitate peer-to-peer payments including those occurring beyond national frontiers. In a decade since the introduction of bitcoin, there have been massive developments in the industry and the use of the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain, both within and beyond financial services.
This article examines cryptoassets transactions in Africa. It considers the case for their regulation and the challenges of regulating them. It assesses South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya – three countries where cryptoassets are widely traded. It examines the regulatory approaches in these countries and the extent to which regulatory technology (RegTech) and supervisory technology (SupTech) can be adopted in the supervision of this growing industry in Africa.