Investing in cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets has become increasingly popular in South Africa, with many investors now considering them a key part of an investment portfolio.
Crucially, usage has gone beyond short-term trading and towards more traditional, longer-term investment strategies.
Individuals are increasingly allocating capital to cryptocurrencies and other assets on a monthly basis, as they would with a unit trust or exchange-traded fund (ETF).
This was revealed by Discovery Bank and Visa in the latest SpendTrend26 report, which analysed South Africans’ spending behaviour.
Together, the institutions analysed 2.6 billion transactions across 20 million credit and debit cards. They also conducted a survey of 1,000 South Africans to better understand their spending behaviour.
While much of the report focuses on where individuals spend their money and how they spend it, crypto received its own deep dive as its popularity has increased significantly over the past few years.
In late 2025, Discovery Bank launched integrated crypto trading on its app with Luno, making it the first banking platform to offer such a service.
This provided unique insights into how South Africans engage with crypto, the frequency of deposits and investments, and how long individuals hold the assets.
The bank noted that participation in cryptocurrencies and crypto assets continues to expand in South Africa, with over 7.8 million individuals using major crypto platforms to trade.
This growth has been driven by the success of mobile crypto-trading platforms, such as Luno, VALR, and Binance. These platforms have lowered the barriers to entry for new investors.
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This article is published on Business Point website
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Updated: June 2026
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