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South Africa’s High Court has ruled that Bitcoin can be treated as capital and money under the country’s exchange control regime.
The court dismissed a challenge to a South African Reserve Bank forfeiture order worth just under R6 million. The judgment in Mangundhla and Another v South African Reserve Bank and Others was handed down on June 1 by Judge Stuart Wilson.
R6M Forfeiture Order Upheld by High Court
Wilson held that Bitcoin falls within regulation 10(1)(c) of the Exchange Control Regulations. He also found that Bitcoin can qualify as money for forfeiture purposes.
The case was brought by crypto trader Square Mangundhla and Fungai Dangaiso, who challenged SARB’s forfeiture order. SARB argued that the Bitcoin transfers placed value beyond its jurisdiction and amounted to an export of capital without Treasury approval.
1,680 BTC Moved to Foreign Exchanges
According to summaries of the judgment, the court found that Mangundhla used his own Luno account and Dangaiso’s account to move just under 1,680 BTC to wallets accessible through foreign crypto exchanges. The Bitcoin was worth just under R182 million at the time.
The court accepted SARB’s argument that the transfers breached South Africa’s exchange control rules. Wilson rejected the argument that Bitcoin’s digital and decentralized nature placed it outside the exchange control regime. The court said Bitcoin is a financial asset that can hold value and be used as a medium of exchange.
2025 Ruling Created Legal Conflict
The judgment conflicts with a separate 2025 High Court ruling in Standard Bank of South Africa v South African Reserve Bank. In that case, the Pretoria High Court held that crypto was neither money nor capital under the existing exchange control framework.
That earlier ruling had been read as support for the view that crypto sat outside South Africa’s exchange control regime. ENSafrica noted that neither High Court division binds the other. That means the legal position remains contested unless an appellate court settles the issue or new legislation removes the uncertainty.
2026 Draft Rules May Treat Crypto as Capital
The uncertainty matters because Treasury’s 2026 draft Capital Flow Management Regulations already point toward treating crypto assets as capital within South Africa’s cross-border control framework.
For crypto users, exchanges and advisers, the new ruling raises compliance risk around offshore wallet and exchange transfers. The legal position remains unsettled, but SARB now has fresh High Court support for treating Bitcoin transfers as exchange-control events.
