BTC & BCC are Down. Finding Middle Ground Between Government & Bitcoin in South Africa
Hello everyone. My name is Nick, the host of Sobuka. Today I will be covering South Africa, which seems to be home for cryptocurrency, entrepreneurial activities these days, but first let me provide you with a fast recap of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is below $4k (USD) and BCash is currently trading around $600 (USD). Both crypto currencies have pulled back in recent days. And I actually think that this is healthy to give new investors an entry point to jump into the market.
For those of you who are new to this show, this channel focuses on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency news commentary with respect to Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and the South Asian Pacific which also includes Australia. So if you are looking to find a get rich type of coin, then this is not that channel. There are a gazillion of channels already out there pushing that type of stuff. So hopefully, I am here to provide you guys with some uniqueness and value in the ecosystem!
How Bitcoin Could be Regulated in South Africa. Sobuka's Take & Commentary.
So let’s get on with the news that is coming from South Africa. And this one is important because of how progressive the South Africans are with respect to cryptocurrencies, which can have an impact on what we do in other parts of the world.
A ghost writer from Business Tech gave interesting ideas on how Bitcoin could be regulated in South Africa.[1] For those of you who are not familiar with the South African situation, what the government is trying to do is set up a test environment to help learn about cryptocurrencies and its effects. I covered this on my channel sometime back, so make sure you check out my Steemit link right below.[2] This article by Business Tech is saying that the cryptocurrency industry in South Africa may have better luck trying to regulate itself as it's currently doing right now. So I see the article as having a stance as not to have government involved or interfere directly. That is pretty much how I read the article.
The article was well written, however, I thought it was kind of verbose in trying to say all that. The article calls for the formation of an SRO which stands for Self-Regulatory Organization. And from my understanding, this SRO team would probably involve institutions who already have a stake and experience in the cryptocurrency industry. So if you have $20.00 (USD) worth of crypto currencies and want to join this team, this is not that type of club guys. You might see exchanges, banks, and people who have a lot of authority in the crypto currency market to set rules and regulations, kinda-like how the Ethereum alliance is set up.
So let’s say for example that you are really rich and want to create an exchange in South Africa. (Maybe you bought Bitcoins 5 years ago for a penny, and you now have 1 million Bitcoins.) I guess the process that one would take is meet with their local SRO to learn about the industry, rules, and consequences. The only thing I want to add as a suggestion to this article’s idea is that there has to be a form of penalization for bad behavior and bad actors. So having an Ethereum-like alliance type of organization is a good thing but not having a way to severely penalize bad actors can undermine the credibility of the SRO. When I say bad actors, just think of the things we see or hear every single day in the cryptocurrency market, like exchanges stealing funds and blaming it on hackers.
You also have groups acting like they have cryptocurrency securities but when you try to take out your coin(s) from their exchanges, you find out that it’s not there?! I am not going to put names out there. But if you have been in this cryptocurrency space for at least 6 months, you should already know what or who I am referring to. Thus, I think government should be involved to protect the people, groups and institutions as well. We would not want an SRO to go rogue.
So, what will that involvement look like and in what capacity? Well, we still need an entity to come in and arrest bad actors. But honestly, I don’t have all the answers to that question. What we still have time for is to discuss the balance between government and industry. If you have any ideas or comments, please leave them below. I would like to hear your thoughts on this issue.
Alright. That is all for today ladies and gentlemen. Please check out the original article’s link. It is right below. For everyone out there, please hit that Like button if you watched the video or UpVote on Steemit. If you are new to the show and would like to see more information like this, please click Subscribe. And as always let me know what you think about this issue. I look forward to your comments, and I always reply back. Tomorrow, I just want to mention that I will have a special guest by the name of Laura. Awesome Laura will be coming on my show every Wednesday to provide a book review. The book review will be based on Simon Dixon’s book titled “Bank to the Future: Protect Your Future Before Governments Go Bust.” Have a great day everyone!
Nick is a content creator for Sobuka with a background in programming, information technology, finance and digital forensics. He shares interest in cryptocurrencies by reporting on International Affairs. You can find Nick, Brilliant B, and Awesome Sarah here from time to time.
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Relevant Sources
[1]. "How Bitcoin could be regulated in South Africa." By “Staff Writer.” 8/21/2017. https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/193632/how-bitcoin-could-be-regulated-in-south-africa/
[2]. "Korea Legalizes Bitcoin. South Africa Regulates BTC. Trump Trade Impacts Latin America and DubaiCoin." By Sobuka. 8/22/2017. https://steemit.com/korea/@sobuka/korea-legalizes-bitcoin-south-africa-regulates-btc-trump-trade-impacts-latin-america-and-dubaicoin