South African Court Rules Bitcoin Counts as Capital and Money

A Johannesburg High Court in South Africa has made a landmark ruling that Bitcoin meets the legal definitions of both 'capital' and 'money' under the country's Exchange Control Regulations. The decision, handed down by Judge Stuart Wilson, upholds the legality of a 6 million rand Bitcoin confiscation and reverses a 2025 court ruling that had found cryptocurrencies did not qualify as such under the same law.

The case stems from the actions of Square Mangundla, a crypto trader who moved approximately 1,680 Bitcoin, valued at around 182 million rand at the time, to offshore cryptocurrency exchange wallets between 2018 and 2020. Authorities alleged that Mangundla had illegally transferred capital overseas without the required approval from the South African Treasury.

Judge Wilson's judgment centered on the functional characteristics of Bitcoin, stating that it is a financial asset capable of storing value and serving as a medium of exchange, thereby fitting the definitions of both capital and money under the regulations. He explained that exempting cryptocurrencies from these rules would undermine the entire foreign exchange control system, as anyone could convert assets to crypto and move them abroad with relative ease.