Crypto asset service providers are licensed as financial services providers under FAIS. This page sets out the authorisations a stablecoin business needs in South Africa, who grants each one and what it covers, alongside how many companies hold them today. The figures come from the registers Anvesan reads and are updated as those registers change.
Authorisations in South Africa, as at 6 November 2026
Authorisations292across 2 licence families
Licensed290of 292 authorisations
In the pipeline1Applications and in-principle approvals
Ended1Refused, withdrawn or lapsed
Authorisations by licence
South Africa FSP licence covering crypto assets100%291
Other authorisations<1%1
These 292 authorisations belong to 272 companies. The company-level records are in Atlas Pro.
What those authorisations permit
Scope not stated in the licence292
One authorisation can cover several activities, so these figures overlap.
The licences: who grants them, how long, what they cost
The statutory clock is the formal decision period, where the regulator publishes one. “Observed” is the real-world timeline reported by applicants, not a figure the regulator sets. Capital is the regulatory minimum, not legal or advisory fees. Where a figure is not yet available, we show “Unavailable”; where one exists but Anvesan has not verified it, we show “Not sourced”.
The Atlas column maps a licence to a tracked licence family only where the two are the same thing. Where they are not, it reads Not mapped, and the family counts are in Authorisations by licence above.
South Africa FSP licence covering crypto assets
291 in the Atlas
Who grants it
Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
What triggers it
Not sourced
Legal basis
Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS)
Statutory clockNot sourced
Anvesan has not verified this for this regime yet. It is added when it is.
What it takes in practiceNot sourced
Anvesan has not verified this for this regime yet. It is added when it is.
Capital requirement
Not sourced
Application feeNot sourced
Companies in the free Atlas
5 of the 272 companies with an authorisation in South Africa are in the free Atlas.
Regulatory changes only: what is being decided, by whom, and when. Company-level licence changes are tracked in Atlas Pro.
Questions this page answers
How many companies hold a stablecoin-related licence in South Africa?
Atlas tracks 292 authorisations across 272 companies in South Africa, read from official registers and checked on 6 November 2026. Of those, 290 are licensed, 1 are in the pipeline, and 1 have ended.
Who regulates stablecoins in South Africa?
Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The framework is Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS).
What licence does a stablecoin business need in South Africa?
Crypto asset service providers are licensed as financial services providers by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS).
How long does a licence take in South Africa, and what capital does it need?
Anvesan has not verified decision timelines or capital thresholds for South Africa yet, so this page does not publish them. It publishes no figure it cannot cite.
How these numbers are made
Registers read
The official registers used for this regime, named in the Registers read line. Where a public register does not provide a record, the source is identified separately.
Cadence
Checked daily. Changes are recorded when they appear in the register, together with the date they were seen. Last checked 6 November 2026.
Licence detail reviewed
23 September 2026. Counts are refreshed daily. Licence terms, timelines and capital thresholds are reviewed separately because they come from the underlying rules rather than the register.
Known gap
“Unavailable” means the figure does not yet exist or has not been published. “Not sourced” means the figure exists but Anvesan has not yet verified it. Neither is estimated.