Governments need to “take the time” to understand Bitcoin before rushing into aggressive regulation or making it illegal, according to the South African founders of the first rand-to-Bitcoin exchange platform.
HumanIPO reported last week the duo behind BitX, Nicholas Pilkington and Timothy Stranex, were confident Bitcoin’s popularity could grow in South Africa and when asked if it could lead to government regulation they said it was probably inevitable.
Pilkington and Stranex said: “We can only hope that the government will take the time to analyse and understand it properly, recognise the advantages it provides, and regulate it in a forward-thinking way with a goal of improving the world and not simply trying to preserve the status quo.”
The United States’ FinCEN, a treasury agency which fights money laundering, is already scrutinising Bitcoin and Bitcoin ATM, while the Canadian authorities have also been examing it.
The pair added: “Some level of regulation is good because uncertain legal standing is a big thing holding back Bitcoin adoption.”
HumanIPO reported in April South Africa was among one of five African countries to have companies express an interest in installing a Bitcoin ATM which would allow exchange to and from fiat currency at a hole in the wall.
Asked if a Bitcoin ATM rollout could threaten exchange sites such as BitX, Pilkington and Stranex added: “The two systems would complement each other really well since ATMs will need a market behind them to operate efficiently.
“The good aspect is that it’ll be very easy for people to get started with Bitcoin because an ATM is such a familiar device.
“However, we suspect it won’t provide the same level of service that people expect from normal ATMs because the backend infrastructure for Bitcoin in SA just isn’t at the same level yet.”
