The Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa states that the Bitcoin (BTC) theft of $3.6 billion by Africrypt cannot be handled by it. Despite an apparent view of Africrypt (the investment platform) indicating to be a Ponzi scheme, the financial regulator of South Africa mentioned that it can only review the complaints. The cause behind this restriction is that the crypto assets are not monitored under any of the financial sector jurisdictions in South Africa. As a result, no regulatory action can be taken by the FSCA for not being enough authoritative.
It was added by the FSCA that the unusually high returns provided by Africrypt connected it to a Ponzi scheme. It winded up by saying that the public is encouraged to figure out that exceptionally high returns demonstrate that the scheme is inclined toward being fraudulent.
The Africrypt scam
Raees and Ameer Cajee, the South African brothers, founded the Johannesburg-based investment firm named Africrypt in 2019. It was promised by the platform that the investors would be provided with the least return of five times of the invested Bitcoins. The lawyers on the accord of a customer group pointed out that more than $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin has vanished on the behalf of the brothers. The calls to brothers are promptly directed to the voicemail and the official website of the firm is unresponsive.
The matter is being investigated by the Hawks (a squad of the police force of South Africa which undertakes the cases of economic crime and corruption). The determination about the site for the prosecution of the case has yet to be made.
The crypto regulations of South Africa
The FSCA is ensuring to deal with the financial products which provide the declaration of their crypto assets to avoid the theft regarding cryptocurrencies. The authorities are showing significant concerns over the considerable quantity of frauds on the behalf of the individuals and the companies who pretend to deliver crypto assets to the common masses. It was expressed by the FSCA that the civilians must be in knowledge of the considerably great amount of the deceitful players who play the role of black sheep in the field.
Recently, the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group has issued a position paper that calls for the regulation of the cryptocurrency system of the country.