Luno Files Constitutional Challenge Against South Africa's Draft Crypto Regulations
Crypto exchange Luno has mounted a constitutional challenge against South Africa's draft cryptocurrency regulations, arguing that the rules bypass parliamentary oversight. The legal action could delay or reshape the regulatory framework governing Africa's most established crypto market.
Luno's Challenge: Treasury is writing asset-seizure powers into a ministerial footnote
The constitutional argument is real, but the sharpest detail isn't about Parliament — it's about forfeiture.
South Africa's National Treasury has drafted rules that let the state attach and seize crypto assets on reasonable suspicion alone, without a court order, and force owners to sell at a price the government sets. That's not a reporting requirement; that's expropriation written into secondary regulation, bypassing the lawmakers who are supposed to sign off on powers that consequential.
For every founder or exchange operating in Africa's most mature crypto market, the risk isn't just compliance cost — it's that a paperwork error could cost you your licence, and a contested transaction could cost you your assets, before any judge weighs in.
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- Crypto regulations ‘unconstitutional, bypass Parly’ · itweb.co.za · T2