South Africa citizens are increasingly warming up to the idea of investing and trading in cryptocurrencies — despite regulatory concerns over such decentralised digital financial assets across the world.

The MyBroadband 2018 Cryptocurrency Survey — completed in April — shows that more South Africans who have never previously held cryptocurrencies are planning to invest in cryptocurrencies either by purchasing them directly or by gaining exposure to the industry through investments in related enterprises such as cryptocurrency mining.

"Of the survey respondents who do not own or who have never owned cryptocurrency, almost 50% said they plan to invest in an aspect of cryptocurrency or crypto mining in 2018,” reported the MyBroadband tech news and research site on Friday.

Global prices for bitcoin and etherium skyrocketed in 2017 before bottoming out early 2018 while prices have been volatile in the past few weeks. Prices of cryptocurrencies are susceptible to developments and regulatory issues around the digital assets across the world.

Other African countries have shied away from acknowledging trade in bitcoin despite virtual currencies increasingly helping plug liquidity and foreign currency shortages for international transactions.

Agencies