Crypto Exchange VALR Secures South African Licenses

South African crypto exchange VALR has obtained two licenses from the country's financial regulator, the company announced Monday.

Pantera-backed VALR, which was valued at $240 million in March 2022, is among the first batch of crypto firms to obtain approvals from South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). Last week, exchange platform Luno and crypto social investment platform Zignaly also announced they had received FSCA licenses.

The FSCA began accepting license applications in 2023 after the African country approved legislation to expand the regulator's scope to include crypto oversight.

VALR, headquartered in Johannesburg, said that it has been granted Category I and Category II licenses by the FSCA as a crypto asset service provider (CASP).

"Obtaining the CASP license from the FSCA is a monumental achievement for VALR," Farzam Ehsani, the co-founder and CEO of VALR said in a press statement.

(Source: CoinDesk)