Nearly two-thirds of South African consumers have used artificial intelligence to assist with shopping-related tasks, according to new survey data from Visa that points to a rapid shift in how locals interact with digital payment technologies. The Visa Spending Shift Survey, conducted by Morning Consult among a thousand South African adults in October 2025, found…
AI shopping tools gain traction, yet most South Africans still prefer human customer service interactions. (Image created with ChatGPT) Artificial intelligence (AI), digital wallets and crypto-currency linked payments are rapidly changing how South Africans shop and transact, according to new research from Visa. The latest Spending Shift Survey was commissioned by Visa and conducted by…
SARS will use tech to catch those who don’t report crypto assets. (Image: Nicola Mawson, with Freepik and GenAI) Government is clamping down on crypto assets through two new tax regulations that expand reporting on virtual money. It is also moving to bring tokens under exchange control rules – despite a pending court case on…
Crypto assets broaden opportunities in the transaction environment but also pose significant money laundering and terrorist financing risks due to their ease of availability, use, anonymity, and decentralised nature. The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) classified the overall inherent risks of money laundering for crypto asset service providers (CASPs) in South Africa as “high” following a…
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said at the weekend that it had accidentally given away more than US$40-billion worth of bitcoin to customers as promotional rewards, triggering a sharp selloff on the exchange. Bithumb apologised for the mistake, which took place on Friday, and said it had recovered 99.7% of the 620 000 bitcoin, worth about…
Bitcoin was on the cusp of breaking below the key US$70 000 level on Thursday as a slide in the world’s largest cryptocurrency showed no signs of stopping. Bitcoin fell 2% in early European trade, having dropped as much as 3.5% earlier during the Asian session to $70 052.38, its lowest level since November 2024. Ether, meanwhile,…
Global markets retreated on Friday as a stock rout on Wall Street went global, with volatility gripping precious metals and cryptocurrencies while AI fears weighed on equities. The MSCI All-Country World Index rallied off intra-session lows to trade flat, but the benchmark was still on track for its worst weekly performance since mid-November, with a…
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has lost about one-third of its value since the start of the year. Published On 6 Feb 20266 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Bitcoin has fallen sharply, racking up more losses after a tumultuous week for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. The digital currency…
Larry Cooke, legal counsel for Binance Africa. Crypto-currency exchange Binance has seen rapid customer growth in South Africa, since its local inception eight years ago, as more South Africans adopt crypto-currency. The online digital wallet service − through which crypto-currencies can be traded, bought and sold − says it has witnessed local customer numbers rising…
The author, Luno’s Marius Reitz By the end of 2025, it had become clear, even to the most hardened sceptics, that digital assets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology were no longer on the fringe of the traditional finance system but rather embedded in global finance, investment markets and payment systems. The real question for 2026 is…
