Cryptocurrency is regarded as a financial instrument for Income Tax purposes and not as a currency. As such the profit or loss on cryptocurrency trading could either be taxed as normal income if the intention of the investor was to speculate or alternatively the profit or loss could be regarded as a capital gain or loss if the intention of the investor was to hold it long-term as a capital investment.

For VAT purposes the exchange of cryptocurrency into South African Rand is regarded as an exempt supply.