If you hold crypto assets, you need to understand crypto tax — how the South African Revenue Service (SARS) taxes your investments and trades. SARS has provided some guidance on how it handles the taxation of crypto assets, but many people still...
Celebrity endorsements, crypto and crashes
Guest AuthorOct 18, 2023
Fred Razak, Chief Trading Strategist at CMTrading, warns potential investors to exercise utmost caution when encountering unsolicited cryptocurrency offers, regardless of celebrity endorsements. Amid the 2021 crypto boom, prominent figures such as...
Bitcoin: navigating tax and exchange control
Maya Fisher-FrenchOct 21, 2021
Regulation of bitcoin and other crypto assets is inevitable, but it makes investing in this new asset class safer. A few years ago, I was sitting on a panel discussion when the topic of bitcoin was raised. The appeal of bitcoin for many people was...
SARS issues guidance on crypto assets
Guest AuthorSep 17, 2021
On 27 August 2021, SARS provided further guidance on the correct tax treatment of crypto assets and how this must be declared in people’s tax returns. SARS published a document on its website entitled Crypto Assets & Tax. The publication should...
Inside a cryptocurrency scam
Maya Fisher-FrenchApr 19, 2021
Social media networks are being used to lure people into a cryptocurrency scam. A sophisticated social media network is being used to con South Africans by claiming to generate huge returns through trading. The network is made up of 300 fake...
Video: Investing in bitcoin
Maya Fisher-FrenchApr 6, 2021
Whenever we see a surge in the price of bitcoin, I get a lot of queries from people asking how they can invest. The problem is that people are lured by the prospect of high returns rather than actually understanding what they are investing in. A...
Listen: Investigating crypto scams
Maya Fisher-FrenchApr 1, 2021
In this My Money, My Lifestyle podcast we delve into the world of crypto scams which seem to be mushrooming everywhere, despite repeated warnings from our authorities. How do these crypto scams work? How do people get lured into parting with their...
FSCA issues crypto health warning
Guest AuthorMar 25, 2021
The FSCA wants to warn the public that if something goes wrong with your crypto investment, you are not likely to get your money back and will have no recourse against anyone. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has noted with concern the...
FSCA to regulate crypto-assets
Maya Fisher-FrenchJan 8, 2021
Globally there has been an increase in the number of retail investors wanting to purchase crypto-assets. Unfortunately this has seen an exponential increase in the number “crypto-scams”. This is where unregulated entities and individuals promise...
Safety tips when trading crypto-assets
Guest AuthorOct 29, 2020
By Wiehann Olivier, CA (SA) and Partner at Mazars South Africa While we wait for the experts to draw up a regulatory framework for crypto-assets, it’s crucial that you educate yourself on good practices for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs)....
Previous Articles
Should I include cryptocurrencies in my investment portfolio?
Oct 28, 2019
This post was sponsored by Revix. Nowadays, you‘ll have a hard time finding someone who hasn’t heard about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. But beyond the noise and sensational news headlines, the overwhelming majority of people have very limited knowledge about...
Listen: Cryptocurrency: Is it money, an asset, or a get-rich-quick scheme?
Oct 25, 2019
What exactly is cryptocurrency? Is it something we should be investing in and if so, how do we do it? Maya (@mayaonmoney) and Mapalo (@womanandfinance) ask the questions you may be too shy to ask. Cryptocurrency experts Sean Sanders and Louis Buys, co-founders of...
Buying a cryptocurrency bundle
May 13, 2019
With the collapse of Bitcoin from over R250 000 to around R70 000 today, the hype around cryptocurrencies has largely died down. It usually takes a wipeout for people to understand exactly what is meant by a risky investment. However, pundits argue that there is a...
Cryptocurrencies and their revolutionary architecture
Sep 14, 2018
By Stéphane Monier, Chief Investment Officer, Lombard Odier Private Bank Investment experts have often sceptically dismissed cryptocurrencies as excessively volatile. Technologists have described them as revolutionary. Who is correct? Will cryptocurrencies become a...
Crypto prices driven purely by mood of investors
Jul 16, 2018
New research has found that cryptocurrency prices are not influenced by any economic factors and instead are driven purely by the mood swings of investors. The stunning rise in the price of Bitcoin, hitting $17,500 last December as it increased by more than 500% in...
Beware Bitcoin scamsters
Apr 16, 2018
As the returns from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies hit stratospheric levels, Bitcoin scamsters have crawled out of the woodwork to take advantage, as the lure of big profits makes people less cautious and more willing to hand over their money without doing their...
Bitcoin: the tax question
Mar 15, 2018
Christopher Renwick, Attorney at Tax Consulting SA investigates the tax implications of making money from cryptocurrency. Although usually behind the global curve, South Africa seems to be keeping pace with the current Bitcoin trend. This is positive, as we are living...
The value of bitcoin
Nov 15, 2017
By Jacques Plaut, portfolio manager at Allan Gray The total market value of all bitcoins is US$80bn, which is more than the value of Richemont and triple the value of Anglo American. It is the topic on which we currently receive the most questions from clients. Before...
Bitcoin: cutting through the hype
Sep 7, 2017
By Mike van der Westhuizen, Portfolio Manager, Citadel, and Nishlen Govender, Investment Analyst, Citadel Recent Bitcoin mania has raised a heated debate as to what the world’s largest cryptocurrency (by market capitalisation) is actually worth. Until recently Bitcoin...
What is digital currency?
Apr 10, 2017
Digital currencies are a form of electronic money, that are as liquid as normal fiat currencies. There are currently over 600 digital currencies – also known as cryptocurrency – that are already in the market. They function the same way as regular currencies, except...