How to Buy Cryptocurrency in South Africa: A Complete Guide

Cryptocurrencies have seen a steady growth in interest and adoption in South Africa. While it’s a relatively new asset class, there are many perks that make it an interesting proposition for those wanting to diversify their assets or looking for alternative ways for international remittances.

If you’re interested to learn about crypto and how you can also buy and sell cryptocurrencies in South Africa – you’ve come to the right place! Easy Crypto aims to simplify the crypto experience, making it more easy and accessible for anyone in ZA to get into crypto.

Now before we begin, let’s start with the basics.

Where to buy crypto in South Africa

Buying cryptocurrencies in South Africa is easier than you think! Nowadays cryptocurrencies can be purchased through one of two ways:

1. Custodial exchanges: these are centralised crypto exchanges where they hold your crypto assets in their wallets – similar like how a banks stores your ZAR.
2. Non-custodial exchanges: a non-custodial service does not store your crypto assets, but acts like a retail where they offer buying and selling of crypto assets, and have them sent directly to the customers’ wallets.

Easy Crypto ZA offers non-custodial services for those who want to purchase crypto in South Africa.

We have over 160+ crypto assets that range from Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and many other altcoins. We send your buy & sell orders directly to your crypto wallets, where you hold the true ownership of your crypto.

Related: Learn the different type of crypto wallets.

How to buy cryptocurrency in South Africa

We make it easy for South Africans to buy and sell over 160+ cryptocurrencies, ranging from DeFi tokens, stablecoins, metaverse and NFT tokens, and more.

Before we get started, you will first need 2 things:

1. Sign-up and have a verified account at Easy Crypto South Africa.
2. Have a crypto wallet to store your cryptocurrencies.

Don’t have a crypto wallet yet?

No worries, follow our simple guides to set up a crypto wallet Trust Wallet, Exodus Crypto Wallet, and Edge Crypto Wallet.

And that’s it!

Be sure to check the email address attached to your Easy Crypto account for the confirmation of your purchase and also check your crypto wallet for your purchase.

Need a visual guide? Check out our YouTube guide below on how to buy crypto with Easy Crypto ZA.

Things to consider before buying crypto

As with any investment, it’s always best to spend time doing your own research and get to know all aspects of the crypto asset – especially if you’re new to this asset class.

Below are some considerations to think about when buying or investing into cryptocurrencies in South Africa.

Where to store your crypto

As mentioned briefly above, cryptocurrencies are stored in crypto wallets. While there are many different types of crypto wallets out there, they are primarily categorised into two different types based on their storage method:

• Hot wallets: the most common and popular wallet; stores your crypto assets in a secure online digital wallet. This type of wallet prioritises accessibility and cross-platform support.
• Cold wallets: store your wallets in an offline environment, hence the name. This type of wallet is designed for long-term storage with maximum protection.

Learn more: A Guide to Crypto Hot Wallet vs. Cold Wallets.

Choosing the right platform

Finding the right platform to buy and sell cryptocurrencies involves doing your due diligence and looking into your options. As briefly prefaced above, there are different places to buy crypto assets ranging from centralised crypto exchanges to non-custodial crypto retailers like Easy Crypto.

Be sure to look into whether or not the exchange is legally compliant, check for any hidden fees, and most importantly a customer support team that will assist you with any inquiries.

Do your own research

Last, but not least – and perhaps one of the most important one is to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions.

Research and look into the different crypto assets you wish to buy, asses their volatility and historical price movements, their institutional backing, and evaluate if they match your risk tolerance.

This also involves understanding your own purpose of investing in the first place. Are you looking to invest in crypto for the long-haul as a diversification method? or are you leaning more towards making profit as an active trader?

Understanding this will help you make more informed decisions in the crypto market.

Start here: Learn how to do your own crypto research.

Knowing the fundamental differences between crypto and ZAR

For those new to crypto currencies, below are some key differences between cryptocurrencies and the South African Rand (ZAR):

• Cryptocurrencies are completely digital assets. Despite some crypto having coin in their names (Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Litecoin, etc) they are all completely digital.
• The value of cryptocurrencies are determined by many things, but most importantly it is their fundamental utilities, store of value, scarcity, and future growth that are often associated with a crypto’s worth.
• Cryptocurrencies eliminate the need for a bank or third party to hold your funds and verify transactions. You are completely in control of your own money!

• Cryptocurrencies can be sent anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds and for a low fee. 

• Certain cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have a set supply, which means that they cannot be manipulated and are not at risk of hyperinflation like traditional fiat currencies, such as the Rand. 

• It is estimated that over 11 million people don’t have access to a bank account in South Africa (20% of the population). Cryptocurrency would allow these people to engage in the local and global economy by giving them access to money that is easy to store and move around, as long as you can connect to the internet.

Legality of crypto in South Africa

“Is it legal?” is one of the most asked questions in the cryptocurrency space.

The answer is yes!

It definitely is legal, including here in South Africa. Governments around the world, including ours, have realized that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. 

South Africa is starting to catch up with other countries in terms of cryptocurrency regulations. Recently our government came out with new and improved regulations for the cryptocurrency space in South Africa.

At Easy Crypto we do everything we can to ensure that both our customers and ourselves are always on the right side of the law.

About Easy Crypto

In addition to making crypto easy and accessible in South Africa, Easy Crypto also offers the following platform features for our users to maximise their investments.

Track the growth of the market and your portfolio

We make it easy for our users to track the growth of the market and your assets with our portfolio tracker. Make more informed decisions with detailed overview of your asset’s performance.

Automate your crypto investments

Automate your crypto investments with user-customisable order templates with our Auto-Buy feature. Link your bank account, setup your order templates and let us do the heavy lifting for you!

Want to learn more about the world of crypto? Visit our learning Hub to get started!