Just How Big is the Crypto Market in South Africa?

A R500 Billion Market

South Africa’s crypto market processes roughly R500 billion worth of transactions annually. This is based on analysis by Silver Sixpence, the team behind the blockchain diagnostic tool LedgerCore.

The market ballooned to R500 billion during the 2021 Covid lockdowns and has hovered around that level since. Of this amount, around R100 billion flows into and out of the country each year. Net outflows of R5–10 billion are estimated—much of it technically in violation of exchange controls.

What remains unexamined, according to Moneyweb, is the effect of these flows on the Rand’s exchange rate.

South Africa’s Love of Stablecoins

Silver Sixpence highlights a striking trend: South Africans now use stablecoins as much as bitcoin for crypto exchange transactions.

This adoption is driven by the utility stablecoins offer:

• Paying for tokenised assets
• Web3 applications
• Cross-border remittances

Stablecoins act as digital dollars—useful in a country where USD access is restricted and expensive.

Crypto Privacy Is Dead

LedgerCore’s ability to map every blockchain transaction offers a sobering conclusion: there is no privacy in crypto.

“If you transact on-chain, you’ve got to know that you’re not private… It is like writing your transaction on a big billboard on a highway and everyone in the world can see it.” — Carel de Jager, CEO of Silver Sixpence

Exchanges hold your KYC documents. Your wallet addresses and transaction history are permanently recorded on a public ledger. The belief that crypto is anonymous is a myth—one that persists despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The records never disappear. Ever.

The Scammers Are Still Out There

The crypto world remains a digital Wild West. De Jager notes that his inbox is full of stories from South Africans who have lost everything to theft or scams—friends and family included.

Using blockchain data to track and expose criminal activity is becoming essential. Better tracing tools mean exchanges and regulators can finally detect manipulation, fraud, and illicit behaviour at scale.

Good data won’t eliminate risk, but it will make the ecosystem safer.