South Africa To Make Bitcoin Self-Custody ILLEGAL?

Yet another country is taking steps to make Bitcoin harder to use. This time it's South Africa, the largest economy in Africa. AI says, no, I'm sorry, you are not fit to drive and you won't be able to go anywhere. And now you've got peer-to-peer money, the torrents of money, the elixir of life for 8.3 billion people. Is that going to go away? Of course not. Yet another country is taking steps to make Bitcoin harder to use and opting out of future

prosperity. This time it's South Africa, the largest economy in Africa. Will it work and what will be the fallout? Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Bitcoin Banter. Today I am joined by Toni and making her banter debut is our very own Bitcoin Katie. Don't forget to stick around to the end to find out who our donkey of the week is. Katie, some wild news out of South Africa. I would love to hear your thoughts on what's going on. What do you think is going to

happen with all of this? And if you want to fill in any of the details for guests who are joining us. Yeah, this is really crazy, crazy news. So South Africa, which is currently the largest African economy and has a population of 65 million people. So, you know, this is no small, insignificant country. And what they are about to vote on their parliament is some restrictions, or some restrictions, full restrictions on the ownership of crypto assets, obviously,

including Bitcoin. What they want to do is they want to bring crypto assets into the current exchange controls legislation. They are explicit about the reason for that, and it is to stop cross-border flow. So of course, South Africa has had a big issue with basically hemorrhaging capital as capital flees the country. And that has been an issue since the

days of apartheid, and that did not change under the ANC government. And what it will effectively mean for ordinary South Africans is that they will no longer be able to self-custody their Bitcoin. This will essentially become illegal. So if this passes, what they want people to do is to report their holdings within 30 days to the government. They will only be allowed to hold

crypto assets with authorized crypto asset service providers, so CASPs. So authorized CASPs will be the only one who can hold your Bitcoin. And for those who do not comply with these new regulations, they could face, I think it's a fine of around about $60,000 and up to five years in prison. So that would also mean the end of, well, they think it means the end of peer-to-peer transactions. You wouldn't be allowed to do that.

You would need to seek permission to move any of your Bitcoin and authorized offices can compel people to hand over passwords, pins and private keys. And this will essentially turn ordinary South Africans into criminals overnight. So, yeah, it's nuts. Yeah. This is the funny thing, though, is, you know, what's the quote that you can't ban Bitcoin, but you can ban yourself from, you know, the benefits of Bitcoin is maybe a way of summarizing it. And we've seen this time and time again.

I mean, how many times has China banned Bitcoin? And then they've reneged. We talked about it just in the last month, Pakistan unbanned Bitcoin. They had a 2018 ban that went into effect and recently said, okay, maybe not. And I think that coincided too with the Strait of Hormuz situation where the Iranian government was accepting or requiring Bitcoin payment because it's permissionless and censorship resistant. But Tony, what do you think the net effect of this proposed legislation is?

Well, news like this makes me smile a lot, actually. You know what? Because it's so telling on so many fronts. For one, it is extremely bullish for Bitcoin that you have news like this coming out. Because what does it tell me? It tells me that the desperation of corrupt governments and individuals is reaching all-time highs and that they are literally running out of time and options and are hoping anything sticks. So the more extreme the headline is because the more petrified they are.

And the power to make this go away is in the hands of the people, no matter where they are, whether it's South Africa or any other jurisdiction. If you understand Bitcoin, you understand that all these headlines you can throw in the garbage because they are completely meaningless and unenforceable unless you allow yourself to be influenced by this rubbish. Bitcoin is great for the separation of money and state. You cannot stop peer-to-peer transactions, right?

They can say all they want, make it illegal all day and all night. They can't stop it. And so as long as folks understand this, hold on to self-custody, and perhaps even consider leaving, then nothing changes for them. But if you let yourself get influenced or scared by these news headlines, then yes, you will lose what is rightfully yours.

What it also makes me happy about is that it casts an even shinier spotlight on the reality of these governments. These are criminal organizations. These are people who should be nowhere near anywhere making decisions for the people of their country. These people should be in jail or even worse, depending on the rap sheet that, you know, that they've built across their entire career as these corrupt politicians.

Yes, you know, these headlines might piss off and scare folks who, you know, who perhaps don't understand all the nuances behind it. But at the end of the day, you know, the tighter the noose, the more effort is going to be put into finding ways around it.

And at some point, all these people become irrelevant. We're seeing this happen across the globe. Bitcoin adoption is soaring. It's not going away. It's soaring so much that it's almost practically being labeled as a must have for national security. So ignore these headlines, ignore these people. That is the best thing you can do. And understand that as long as you know how to hold, manage, and protect your Bitcoin, no force in this universe can remove it away from you.

I think that is the best way to frame it. That is the most important property, in my view, of Bitcoin. Nobody can take it away from you. It's the first time in human history that we have an asset like this. So for anyone living in South Africa, or if you're just paying attention, you see where the, you know, you want to skate where the puck is going, check out the link below. We have a Plan B residency program.

You can get out, opt out of the madness, go to a place that honors and respects your freedom. I would love to talk with you. You can schedule a free 30-minute call. And of course, if you're enjoying the episode, smash the like button, subscribe. Make sure you're subscribed. A lot of our listeners aren't. We would love for you to do that. And guys, up next, we have...

This is one that we've talked on and off over the last maybe 12 months about. But just in 2026, we've had 41 kidnappings in France of crypto owners because French authorities, tax officials, are being accused of selling the crypto owner's data. So, of course, we've been saying for a long time as well, it's not know your customer, it's kill your customer.

And this is absolutely the predictable fallout of a situation where they demand people report holdings, they demand that anyone that you're buying your Bitcoin crypto from, they have to know who you are, where you live, everything about you. So, Tony, sad times to see, but again, predictable corruption by government officials. Another bullish piece of news because now it's not the criminals in South Africa. Now it's the criminals in the French government. It's all a global cartel, right?

Like they're all part of that same corrupt team. It's just coming in different languages. So what the common denominator between all these headlines It fear That is the only narrative they have a chance in hell in succeeding with is by scaring people to comply So what are they doing in France They're being a little bit more creative here. So since they can't kill Bitcoin,

what are they doing? They're endangering the lives of those they know holding it by selling it two criminals who are going to go out and commit God knows what heinous act on innocent folks. So they are using front men like they always do in order to scare people away from the one asset that was created to set them free and put the real criminals out of business. So again, it sucks for those that have to live through all of this, but understand that as a human being, the government

doesn't dictate your rights to freedom. It's a God-given right. You have the right to protect it yourself by any means necessary if it's under threat, right? And so understand that Bitcoin cannot be taken away from you as long as you hold it to yourself. That is the fundamental fact, the key to winning at this game, right?

And if the country that you're in is hostile, like, you know, seems to be in South Africa and of course, increasingly in France, then leave, pack up and go and get out of the way. Because unless you have an army bigger than theirs to take them on, the best strategy is really to exit. And so it's really sad to see that, you know, folks have to deal with this nonsense. But again, the silver lining here is that it's, you know,

shining a very bright spotlight on all of these criminals. The world is watching, the world is paying attention. No one's going to forget this. And again, the more desperate they get, the more extreme their measures, and you know, the more they cement the message in the minds of anyone paying attention here. Yes, I think you nailed it, Tony. Katie, what's your take on all of this?

Yeah, I mean, this is something that we've seen time and time again, and we will continue to see. And it's not just limited to, you know, something like taxpayer data. We also now have France wanting every single social media user to submit their ID and potentially hand over private messages by the end of this year. You know, what could possibly go wrong when you have a situation where your identity is being centralized in the hands of a government or an exchange or anything?

There is always that risk, and it's probably going to happen. It's not just a risk. It's probably a certainty that your data is at one point or another going to be leaked. And then that could mean that your name, your address, your identity, everything is out there. I mean, I was in France late last year, and I was actually helping a friend move some Bitcoin from Coinbase to a hardware wallet.

and I thought it was going to be an easy task and it was not because we ran into a problem because Coinbase, whenever you send Bitcoin to a self-custody address from Coinbase, at least Coinbase in France, you are required to do a facial scan. You are required to photograph your ID, in this case maybe a passport or an ID card, and that is then attached to your non-custodial address, your self-custody address. And that is the only way that Coinbase allows you to move

your Bitcoin. So you can imagine now you've just KYC'd yourself, your self-custody address, you're revealing all kinds of information to anyone who cares to look. It's something that is going to be a problem in the future as governments and exchanges and everything is KYC'd, everything. And never mind the fact that these security controls that they have in place to authenticate you as a real human being are being infiltrated by AI weapons, basically,

that they can mimic your voice. I mean, your identity is, if you're posting content on Twitter, if you've recorded something that someone can publicly pull, it's going to be easier and easier every day to replicate that. And for someone else to get into Coinbase, withdraw your funds, and you don't even know that they're gone. Today is the day to take self-custody of your Bitcoin. And that is what we do all day, every day. So I would encourage people, go check the link below as well.

We can help you with self-custody. Katie and I were both clients of the Bitcoin way before we started working with the team. We have nothing but the most amazing things to say about the entire process. Alrighty, guys.

Up next, we have just more chaos in the world. So India, they're testing their eRupee delivery. So they have 10 experiments across the country. And these are CBDCs used to deliver welfare payments more efficiently. So the way that they're framing this, they haven't really found the use case that is broadening adoption.

But what they're going to say, I think, to make it compelling is, we can bring efficiency to the welfare system because we can restrict what people on welfare purchase, when they purchase it. And so they can't just buy anything they want. They have to make productive use of it or whatever. All these great reasons for a CBDC, of course. Like that's going to be the marketing behind it. And I think my personal opinion, obviously, is what it proves is it's just permissioned money.

And right now, maybe it's welfare recipients and maybe you can make a strong justification for that. And then tomorrow, it's going to be everyone else. And then you can't buy XYZ, not at this time of day, not outside of your zip code or whatever, you know, whatever geographical locator information they use. But Tony, you've been calling this for a long time. Interestingly enough, it's not Tether that they seem to be using.

But that's just going to be the one that probably the Western hemisphere uses. What's your take on India? Another bullish headline, man. Yet another corrupt government desperately trying to remain relevant. All of these accelerated projects towards central bank digital currencies are a direct response to the new sheriff in town, Bitcoin. The one force that is completely destroying their power, rendering them irrelevant and that they can't do anything about.

so they build their own products hoping to feed off the ignorance of the masses or those who are literally unfortunately um are stuck with no other options but to adopt um this garbage but personally i think it'll fail they tried something similar in nigeria with the e-naira and despite the most extreme and heinous um threats that they put on their people that project failed spectacularly

Nigerians, I think, have around 90 or 92% Bitcoin adoption. These people have never had a bank account or like very few of them have had a bank account, let alone savings because of, you know, the abusive governments that they've had to deal with up until 2009 or whenever, you know, they stumbled upon Bitcoin and watch them today. They are beyond amazing in terms of adoption, using it the way it was intended, as money, peer-to-peer money.

They have their savings, they have their businesses, and there's nothing anyone can do about it, right? So this is yet another attempt by some government who thinks somehow they're smarter than the rest. But, you know, human nature was not meant to be, you know, enslaved and abused. I mean, you bully someone to a certain point, at some point you're going to get punched in the face and wrecked. Like no one takes bullying forever.

I think this is, you know, where a lot of folks are going to draw the line and smart money has already left the building.

it's just like those that are stuck in you know the the nine-to-five rat race who are not privy to messages like this to information like this and who literally genuinely sadly believe that they have no other option might be initially stuck into this until something goes wrong and even they will revolt and go out of their way to find a way out so we are living in you know very crazy historic times But again the time the window is still here but it closing extremely fast

And I really hope more people figure this out and exit before they have to do so in a more, let's say, less civilized and more violent way. Because when all the doors and windows are shut, that is the only way out. Yeah. Let's hope that the Indian people are as rebellious and disagreeable as the Nigerians have been with their project. Katie, what's your take on all of this? Yeah. So they introduced this E-RUP back in about 2022. And like Tony mentioned, nobody wants it. Nobody's been using it.

Adoption has been near zero. So I think what they're doing in this case, so they are explicit in the fact that they are looking for a use case for their CBDC. So it's almost like they had the CBDC. They didn't really have a good use case for it. It failed, and now they're trying to fill that gap by finding a use case. And in this case, it has been the distribution of welfare. And what they're doing is they're pushing this garbage onto their most vulnerable people.

So they are using this to distribute welfare to poor farmers and also to people who need subsidies to purchase food. and they can only, they're programmed, so they can only spend these eRupees in the location that is specified by, you know, whatever it is they receive. So for example, the farmers can only spend it with certain suppliers and in the case of the subsidized food rations, they are only

allowed to spend it at government food stores. So this is, I mean, this is already being used as a tool of overt control and they've just picked on the people that can't fight back the people who have no other option but to accept the e-rupees because the people in the people who are higher up in indian society because it's a it's a very hierarchical society they won't accept they will not accept these e-rupees so you start from the bottom bottom of the food chain that's what bullies

always do, man. Bullies are cowards at heart. They are, you know, the ones that pick on the weak. That's how they win, because any other approach gets them obliterated. And this is exactly what we're seeing here. And it's not only, you know, going to happen in South Africa and India, it's going to happen in every country around the world, where, you know, those in a position to abuse will enjoy it, taking advantage of the weak, until the weak, you know, hopefully, collectively get

together and put an end to this. Because again, the power has always been in their hands. They just have to get out of their own way, their own fear in order to do so. All righty, guys. Up next, we have some dystopian news. The Ford Motor Company.

This is crazy. I mean, this is like next level state, public private surveillance at play. So they've filed a patent where your pickup truck becomes a rolling police station.

And so here's some of the examples. So biometric checks. So from the comfort of your own driveway, your eyes will be scanned, that iris and fingerprint checked against the database of criminals. So obviously marketed as someone can't steal your vehicle out of your driveway. And then you have things like an emotional lockout. Okay, so if your vehicle senses that you're in panic mode, then you can't start it.

So if you're like the example I think I gave yesterday in our live stream, Tony, was if you're a pregnant woman who's rushing to the hospital because it's time and you're in a panic mode, maybe you can't start your car. Pretty bad timing, right? Or if there's an emergency, your kid breaks his leg and you're trying to rush to the hospital, but your panic car doesn't start.

And then, of course, the most fun thing here is that using acoustic waves to read your lips and display monitored conversations so they can target ads for maximum monetization. So this is, I mean, this is just insanity to me. And the marketing is going to be beautiful and 95% of people are going to completely fall for it. Tony, what do you think is, like, what do you expect when you see this? Besides high demand for used vehicles? Well, that's for sure.

This is going to attract the idiots out there. Those who don't understand anything and think that being a digital donkey is a cool thing. But, of course, for those that are paying attention, none of this applies. Whether it's a CBDC or this dystopian nightmare. But again, this spotlights that right now we have a bunch of psychopaths who are getting very, very high on the idea of unlimited power. And now that AI exists, well, that's just taking their euphoria to a whole new level.

And these are the products that are coming out of it. And so, yes, for anyone who has a clue, this will definitely push them towards old vintage cars. And it'll also give birth to all hackers of the world unite. Because for every action, there is a reaction. And since all of this comes from the tech world, things can be reversed engineered and undone. In fact, that market is usually a lot better, a lot smarter, a lot quicker, and a lot more efficient than those putting it out.

They can put out claims that this is illegal and you're not allowed to do this. Smart people will just ignore it, like they've always done. Whether it came about with trying to make marijuana illegal. Has it gone? No. They tried to make the file sharing of music and movies and software illegal. Has that gone away? No. Why? Because it can't go away. That's why. And now you've got peer-to-peer money, the torrents of money, the elixir of life for 8.3 billion people. Is that going to go away?

Of course not. You've got AI, open source learning algorithms that are available to everybody. Sure, in the hands of a psychopath, it's going to look one way. But in the hands of someone with good intentions, it's going to look a completely different way. both of these worlds will exist at the same time. And you know, my bullishness is on the hope that there are more good people than bad out there.

And eventually, you know, the free market will always decide and the winner is always the one with the best incentives. So yes, I mean, these headlines are like shocking to read. Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe they're doing this. But what did you expect? We are living in a digital world with super intelligent learning algorithms And a part of the world that's a bunch of psychopaths and another part of the world that just loves doing amazing things with this tech.

And so they're all going to collide on this planet. And hopefully the good ones outperform the bad ones. Yes, absolutely. Katie, what would you add to that? This is not coincidental, but the federal government has recently, in the US, has recently introduced a law that requires the government to develop AI technology that could disable your vehicle without input if it detects if you are unfit to drive. So this is very similar to the Ford patent that you were mentioning before, Michael.

So what that means is if it detects that you are impaired in any way, the AI algorithm, so that could be, you know, maybe you're drunk, maybe you're under the effects of drugs, maybe you're in a panic because something bad has happened, it will mean that you won't be able to drive, you won't be able to start your car or you won't be able to put it into gear. And of course, this is always done under the guise of safety, safety for everyone. You know, it's going to prevent accidents.

It's going to prevent drunk drivers.

It going to prevent people from driving when they under the influence of drugs Who is going to argue with that You know nobody wants drunk drivers on the road The problem is that they say it about safety but how is this ai tech going to differentiate between someone who is genuinely in a panic maybe there's been an accident maybe there is someone outside their car trying to hurt them and ai says no i'm sorry you are not fit to drive and you won't be able to go anywhere

you know and and as you mentioned michael this is going to put a premium on old cars that don't that no longer have this technology i mean this kind of eye scanning technology is already present i believe is already present in quite a lot of cars here in the eu and at least where i live in in portugal these new chinese electric cars are becoming very popular because they are the ultimate in luxury they are crazy i mean these things will practically make you breakfast

while you're driving. They're just insane. And I'm always, I'm very resistant. I call them Chinese spy cars. I'm like, no, I'm not having a Chinese spy car. I don't care how nice it is. You know, we have, we have a almost 20 year old Peugeot that we drive around in sometimes and a car like that. I mean, nobody wants a 20 year old Peugeot, but you know, maybe these are the cars that everyone's going to be looking for. But on the other hand,

what you said before, Michael, was that most people are going to go for this. It's all about safety. They want the latest car. They want the latest technology. They want to drive around in a digital prison. I don't know that people will really understand what the implications are. I'm going to be driving my motorcycle around a lot more in the coming years, I have a feeling. Alrighty, guys, up last, donkey of the week. If you've made it through this, you're going to

You're going to enjoy this. We love making fun of the strategic Bitcoin reserve and politicians and political figures of all kinds all the time. So one of the lead crypto advisors to the White House, Patrick Witt, said that the White House has a big announcement for the strategic Bitcoin reserve in the next few weeks. And so I think this was announced just a day or so. This might have been at the Bitcoin conference. I don't recall. We've heard this before, right?

There have been how many announcements about the SBR have we had? And besides stealing people's coins and creating something of an SBR, we haven't really see much action. I would love to know, Katie, from you, do you think anything material is coming or is this just, you know, get everyone hyped up, get them out for the midterm elections this fall? What do you think? Yeah, I, you know, first of all, personally, I couldn't care less

about the US strategic Bitcoin reserve. I think what's going on here is this announcement about an announcement is designed to create maybe some excitement about whatever it is they're going to announce. Maybe they want the market to respond. I mean, honestly, this administration so far seems to have been doing a lot of announcements that cause markets to jump up or cause markets to fall. The more suspicious amongst us might say that that's not a coincidence.

Honestly, I think the only strategic Bitcoin reserve that we should be concerned about is our own strategic Bitcoin reserve, not the one that a government is building. We need to focus on building our own strategic Bitcoin reserve. You absolutely nailed it. And by the way, my take is there are only really two announcements I could imagine they make that, again, I don't want this, but would be actually interesting. one, the US government is actively purchasing Bitcoin.

They have decided to truly stockpile Bitcoin and not just steal it from hacks or whatever. Or two, if they're selling their altcoin, shitcoin, crypto nonsense and converting that into Bitcoin. Either of those two things to me are like, that's a legitimate announcement. I don't want it, don't care about it. But it sends some signal to people who are paying attention, right? I have a feeling it's not going to be anything material. It's going to be some just sort of made up hand waving nonsense.

But I agree with you 100% on personal strategic reserves. And Tony, I suspect you do as well. Of course, man. The only reserve that has value is your own, that you're holding in full self-custody. What these people do, who cares, man? I mean, they're politicians. If you believe them, you have a bigger problem on your hands. Second of all, this is like what, the 27th time they talk about this mirage.

And again, just for those who still don't get it, it is illogical for a government to willingly give up the power of money. So whatever interest they have in Bitcoin is definitely not in your best interest. They want to own the Bitcoin themselves because they understand how valuable it is. They get it. Believe me, they get it.

But what they don't want is for you to get it because what they want to do is take as much Bitcoin as possible, build massive service financial empires over their Bitcoin and sell it back to you, the clueless people, as the next best thing to keep you dependent on them. Do you understand? Because this way, it's a win-win for them. They use Bitcoin, the world's most valuable

asset and they hold on to their slaves. That's what they're doing. And so for those that are still measuring their wealth in dollars are excited about this news because they're only thinking about that worthless paper. So for them, of course, it's like, wow, brilliant news. But for anyone who has a clue and understands that Bitcoin represents your freedom, the fact that you don't have to listen to these clowns. You don't have to abide by their rules. You don't have to play on their chessboard.

You can completely exist outside their system and build a whole parallel new world, which is what's happening. This is just, you know, entertainment at best. So Bitcoin is for everybody. Whether you like them or not, that's the trade-off for having a neutral asset that no living soul can corrupt or manipulate. But just understand that if you want to win at Bitcoin, these headlines should not excite you.

These headlines should incentivize you to increase your savings, convert that worthless toilet paper that you don't own into something that has value that is in your full self-custody. That is the only way to win here. And again, if you are living in a hostile jurisdiction or one that you suspect is going to turn hostile. Pack your bags and get out before you're stuck. Because the worse things get,

the more extreme they get. They shut down the world for a bullshit virus. You don't think they're going to do it when they're completely desperately trying to hold on to a relevancy when their money completely fails, which is what's happening. Watch the signs. Pay attention, guys. Because again, the window of time is closing very, very quickly. And no, this is not a drill. Well said, Tony. Well, to Patrick Witt, congratulations on being our donkey of the

week. For everyone who's tuned in today, we really appreciate you being here. You need to establish your own strategic reserve like Tony and Katie both spoke about. Go to the link below. You can schedule a time to talk with our team. We will walk you through how we guide you through that process. White glove, one-on-one, no shortcuts, no compromises, no proprietary tools. Everything's open source done properly. And do me a huge favor, smash the like button, make sure you're

subscribed to the channel. We would really appreciate anything to feed the algorithm. Comment on it, share it with someone who you think might be interested in watching Bitcoin banter and some of our other segments moving forward. And then last thing, we have an incredible newsletter that I would encourage everyone go to the link below. For the newsletter, it is highly educational, also a ton of incredible memes. So very funny, we send that out every Sunday,

you will absolutely love it. So get subscribed there. And once you subscribe to our newsletter list. You also get invites to live streams, webinars, things like that, that we do with a lot of incredible people. We have some of those coming up. So you'll want to do that. And Katie, it was a blast having you on Banter for the first time. Tony, good seeing you as always. But guys, you take care. Have a great day. And we'll be back very soon. Thanks, guys. This was awesome. Cheers.