South Africa’s Financial Disputes Agency Now Receives Bitcoin Complaints

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South African digital asset investors can now file virtual asset service provider (VASP) complaints with the country’s financial dispute resolution office.

The Office of the Ombud for Financial Service Providers (FAIS) announced this week that it now has jurisdiction over the industry. This follows the statement by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in October that digital assets now fall under the category of financial products. As CoinGeek reported, this was the first time Bitcoin was legally recognized in the country and opened up the industry to regulations applied to traditional finance.

The Bureau can investigate complaints against existing registered financial service providers that offer cryptocurrency advice. These vendors must comply with all Code requirements, such as making material disclosures, performing a needs analysis, and recommending a product appropriate to their needs and circumstances, the Office of the FAIS Ombudsman said.

However, FAIS Ombuds’ ability to resolve bitcoin complaints has limitations. For one thing, it can only handle complaints for events that occurred after October 19, when the FSCA declared Bitcoin a financial product.

Speaking to local media, FAIS Ombud spokesperson Thuso Ngwag revealed that the office had received complaints about Bitcoin but had to dismiss them.

All complaints received before October 19, 2022 regarding investments made in cryptocurrency were dismissed by this Office as we did not have jurisdiction to hear such matters. These complaints also cannot be resubmitted because they occurred before October 19, 2022, he told the outlet.

Since the start of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the office has received eight digital asset complaints, Thuso revealed.

Of these, only three occurred after October 19, 2022 and will be considered, she said.

The office will not handle complaints about block reward miners and entities offering non-fungible token (NFT) services. It will also not handle complaints related to the financial performance of a Bitcoin financial product unless such performance has been expressly guaranteed.

Watch: The Future of Financial Services on Blockchain: More Efficiency and Inclusion

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