South Africa Re-Elects Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC as President

South
African
President
Cyril
Ramaphosa
of
the
African
National
Congress
(ANC)
party
was

re-elected
on
Friday,
and
will
lead
the
country’s
first
multi-party
coalition
government.

The
ANC
managed
to
secure
only

159
seats
in
this
the
election,
short
of
the
200
seats
required
for
a
majority.
After
days
of

back-and-forth
discussion,
they
announced
the
formation
of
a
fragile
coalition
government
–
dubbed
the
government
of
national
unity
–
with
their
biggest
opposition
party,

the
centrist
Democratic
Alliance,
as
well
as
the
Inkatha
Freedom
Party
and
the
smaller
Patriotic
Alliance.

The
ANC
has
ruled
the
country
for
30
years
since
the
end
of
apartheid
in
1994.
This
election
gives
the
ANC
at
least
another
five
years
to
rule
the
country,
though
the
party
will
not
be
ruling
with
the
strong
majority
it
once
had.
In
the
previous
parliament
it
had
230
seats.

The
election
results
are

not
expected
to
have
a
significant
impact
on
South
Africa’s
burgeoning
crypto
industry.
The
country’s
top
regulator,
the
Financial
Sector
Conduct
Authority,
recently
set
up
a

licensing
regime
for
crypto,
making
it
one
of
the
first
African
nations
to
do
so.
The
country
recently
started
licensing
digital
asset
firms,
and
crypto
companies
Luno,
Zignaly,
and
VALR
were
among
the
first
to
get
a
license
in
April.
In
2022,
the
country
included
crypto
providers
in
its
Financial
Advisory
and
Intermediary
Services
Act
so
it
could
regulate
digital
assets
as
financial
products.

The
nation’s
Intergovernmental
Fintech
Working
Group
is
also
expected
to
examine
use
cases
for
stablecoins,
consider
a
policy
and
regulatory
response
this
year,
and
explore
the
implications
of
tokenization.

South
Africa
also
started

consulting
on
a
directive
in
April
that
would
include
crypto
in
the
country’s
Travel
Rules.
The
rules
will
take
effect
once
they
are
put
in
the
gazette.
The
directive
requires
virtual
asset
service
providers
to
transmit
information
on
wallets
and
passports
when
making
transfers.

Many
nations
around
the
world
are
implementing
the
Financial
Action
Task
Force’s
travel
rule,

which
requires
nations
to
share
information
on
crypto
transactions
and
curb
money
laundering.

Read
more:



South
Africa’s
Election
Won’t
Interfere
With
Crypto
Policy:
Industry
Watchers