South Africa's National Treasury published draft Capital Flow Management Regulations this week that would classify crypto as capital, force transactions above an unspecified threshold through licensed intermediaries, and give authorities the power to compel holders to sell their bitcoin for rand. Self-custody would be effectively criminalized, with penalties of up to R1 million and five years in prison. The draft follows a 2025 court ruling that found crypto is not subject to exchange controls — these regulations are designed to override that ruling by ministerial decree, without parliamentary vote. Money Badger CEO Carel van Wyk called it one of the biggest regulatory changes in the SA financial space in decades. A coalition is forming to submit public comments before the May 16 deadline.
The same week, four South African merchants added Bitcoin checkout through PeachPayments. In Cuba, a community-run Lightning node processed more than 2.5 BTC in outgoing volume for remittances and services. Cooking gas was purchased with sats in Nigeria. Water in Peru. In the Dominican Republic, a grassroots circular economy is already live while proposals for legal clarity move toward Congress. Across Latin America, merchants described the same friction: they can accept sats, but tax rules push them back into fiat.
The grassroots economy keeps building. The question is whether the state will try to stop it or learn to live with it.
Dedicating this week's brief to legendary SN user @DarthCoin whose unwavering disagreeableness is an inspiration to us all!
hahahaha what did I do this time?
I think you guys do not understand me sometimes. Seems that only Siggy got to know me better: #147162
I am sometimes grungy, harsh and asshole, but is only to point out shitcoineries and bad things. I am that guy that everybody hates, but always says the truth that nobody wants to hear.
Nice article btw