South Africa Wants Crypto Holders to Hand Over Private Keys on Demand

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South Africa's National Treasury has published draft regulations that would give enforcement officers the power to compel any person to surrender passwords, PINs, or private keys to access their crypto assets. Refusing to comply would be treated as a criminal offence. The Draft Capital Flow Management Regulations 2026 would also require residents holding Bitcoin or other crypto above a threshold set by the Minister of Finance to declare those holdings within 30 days, restrict larger trades to authorised providers only, and bar users from exporting crypto without Treasury permission — backed by search-and-seizure powers at ports of entry and exit.Non-compliance with the new rules would carry fines of up to R1 million or five years in prison.

The proposals go significantly further than existing rules from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which already licenses crypto exchanges under South African financial services law. Critics argue the forced key disclosure provision directly conflicts with Section 35 of South Africa's Constitution, which protects against self-incrimination, as well as property rights under Section 25 — making the draft one of the most constitutionally contentious crypto regulatory proposals seen in the region.

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“not your keys not your coins” just became “our keys, our coins?”