How to Buy Stablecoins in South Africa?

Stablecoins have an essential role in the crypto space. They facilitate many transactions across blockchain platforms, enable access to rare tokens, and also used for global remittances amongst others. Here at Easy Crypto, we make it quick and simple to buy stablecoins with ZAR in South Africa.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at stablecoins and how to buy them in South Africa!

New to crypto? Learn the basics with our 101 guide.

Using stablecoins to buy crypto tokens

Choosing the base currency for buying rare tokens has more to do with personal preferences. However, stablecoins have their own advantages.

Firstly, like popular cryptocurrencies, they are accepted in so many different markets in decentralised exchanges.

Secondly, unique to stablecoins, they maintain a 1:1 value with the fiat currency that they’re based on. For example, the aforementioned stablecoins are all based on the US dollar. 

This means 1 USDT = 1 USDC = 1 DAI = $1.00 US dollar. Of course, there are stablecoins based on some other country’s sovereign currency. But for the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus on the US dollar-based stablecoins, as this is the most common group of stablecoins.

Learn more: What are stablecoins and how do they work?

How to buy stablecoins on Easy Crypto ZA

With Easy Crypto South Africa, you can easily buy stablecoins with South African Rand (ZAR).

We are a non-custodial exchange, meaning we send your crypto purchases directly to your wallet address, where you hold the true ownership of your cryptocurrencies.

Our collection of stablecoins include Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Dai, Binance USD (BUSD), and many others.

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 stablecoin purchase.

What are some popular stablecoins to choose from?

With all that said, what are some stablecoin options availabel out there? The most common stablecoins are USDT, USDC, DAI and BUSD. Each one have their own advantages and disadvantages, as highlighted below.

Tether (USDT)

Tether (USDT) is the world’s first and most popular stablecoin. It is issued by Tether Ltd, a private American company, who claims that each USDT they issued is backed by mostly cash and equivalent assets, like government bonds.

Start here: Buy Tether USDT with Easy Crypto.

However, Tether Ltd is known to be one of the least transparent issuers of stablecoins. As of 2023, USDT is last known to be backed by at least 82% in liquid cash while the rest is held in high-risk assets like commercial debt. 

Despite the low transparency, Tether had been resilient in the face of many market downturns and crises. USDT is compatible with popular networks including Ethereum, EOS, Tron, and Algorand.

USD Coin (USDC)

USD Coin is issued by Circle, another US-based private company. While it isn’t the top stablecoin in the market, it is one of the top 10 most popular cryptocurrency.

The issuer also makes a commitment to comply with regular audits and reserve attestation, therefore it can be seen as more transparent than Tether Ltd.

Buy USDC: Add USD Coin (USDC) to your crypto wallet.

However, like Tether, USDC is a centralised stablecoin that relies on a company to manage assets within its reserve. Given that most, if not all, of its assets are based on the US, and is overseen by federal institutions, both Circle and Tether can freeze certain accounts that work together with the company. 

While “centralised” stablecoins can travel freely on the blockchain, it may not be exchanged back to fiat US dollars if it can’t be accepted by the issuer company. When this happens, it threatens the integrity and value of the stablecoin.

Binance USD (BUSD)

Binance USD is circulated by Binance. While it is technically Binance’s stablecoin, it is issued by another company called Paxos. Paxos is also responsible for issueing other stablecoins backed by real-world assets like gold.

Buy BUSD: Add the BUSD stablecoin to your crypto wallet.

Paxos is regularly audited and issues attestations. However, again, Paxos is not completely immune from the risk of having a centralised authority controlling the stablecoin liquidity. 

DAI, a decentralised stablecoin alternative

If you don’t trust centralised issuers of stablecoins, there is an alternative that stays true with the crypto ethos. DAI is the product of MakerDAO, and is one of the few stablecoins that is entirely issued through smart contracts.

DAI is backed by high-value crypto assets, like Ethereum. For every DAI, there is $1.50 worth of crypto assets locked inside of some highly secure smart contracts. This means not even the core developers of MakerDAO has access to these funds.

Get started: Buy the DAI stablecoin on Easy Crypto.

Furthermore, you notice that DAI is overcollateralised. In other words, each DAI is backed by assets that has more value than the DAI that is being issued. This is to ensure that there’s enough room for the prices of volatile assets to move about, without triggering the smart contract.

Of course, if the price of the collateralised asset reaches $1 for every DAI, the smart contract will automatically sell the collateral to essentially prevent MakerDAO from becoming insolvent. In effect, this also prevents the price of DAI from sinking too low.

Historically, the lowest price for DAI was 76 cents for an incredibly brief moment in time. Since then, it has maintained an average price of 0.9999 dollars. This is pretty impressive given that not one human being maintains the collateral reserve.

Another great thing about DAI as a decentralised stablecoin is that it is 100% transparent, and anyone can audit the collateral reserve at any given time.

The takeaway

Stablecoins can be a great choice of crypto to carry value from traditional finance to decentralised finance, or DeFi, while preserving its value.

If you’re already considering buying rare and exotic tokens from decentralised exchanges with stablecoins, you’re one step ahead of most beginners. 

Stablecoins are like your ticket to the DeFi world, and the crypto space beyond. Think back to the time you went to the arcade games – you first need coins to play those games right? Well in this case, stablecoins will serve that purpose as you explore the vast crypto universe.

Further reading: Explore all things crypto in our learning hub.