South African financial regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), is warning local traders against using cryptocurrency exchanges FTX and Bybit as the trading platforms are not authorized to give financial advice or intermediary services in the region, Bloomberg has learned.
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The FSCA says FTX must be licensed to offer contracts for difference or CFD trading in South Africa. The regulator also added it was trying to contact FTX on the matter but got no response so far. As of press time, nor FTX or Bybit have not made any official statement regarding the matter.
The warning comes after Chainalysis found that Africa became the cryptocurrency market leader by terms of transaction volume which grew up by over 1200% by value received in 2020. The blockchain forensic firm says Africa has a bigger share of its overall transaction volume made up of retail-sized transfers than any other region at just over 7%, versus the global average of 5.5%.
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