Introduction
Although Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper introducing the concept of Bitcoin to the world was first published a full decade ago, South African interest in cryptocurrencies was mostly confined to niche tech and finance communities. This all changed during 2017, when local interest in cryptocurrencies became stratospheric. In fact, over the past 12 months, South Africa had the highest search interest in "Bitcoin" on Google for any region in the world.
But beyond the interest, little substantive research has been done into how many South Africans are actually buying, trading and "hodling" cryptocurrencies, and why, and public understanding about how cryptocurrency behaviour is taxed. This research report attempts to close these gaps.
Through a multi-pronged investigation, we have examined three main themes:
Theme 1: Market Size
• How many cryptocurrency owners are there in South Africa?
• How fast is this market growing?
• What is the average holding size for cryplocurrency owners in South Africa?
• What are the demographics of cryptocurrency owners and users in South Africa?
Theme 2: Behaviour and Intent
• Why are South Africans buying cryptocurrencies?
• What tools are cryptocurrency owners currently using to track their portfolios and
calculate taxes?
• Where do users buy, sell and store their cryptocurrency?
Theme 3: Tax and Regulation
• How high is local awareness of the tax implications of cryptocurrency investments (amongst both tax professionals and consumer investors)?
• What are the rates of compliance to these rules?
• What questions are tax consultants being asked about cryptocurrency? Are cryptocurrency owners currently paying taxes?
• How are cryptocurrency owners currently calculating the taxes they pay?
• What regulatory framework is likely to emerge for cryptocurrencies in the South African
market?
• How will South African regulation match international regulation for cryptocurrency?
This space is changing rapidly, so all research should be understood as being accurate as of May 2018.
The contents of shared books and materials express the authors' point of view, not FDVN Lawyers'. We back up and store them for academic and non-commercial purposes. We object to using these books and materials for commercial purposes.
Link for: SOUTH AFRICANS, CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND TAXATION - May 2018, Research report
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