Table of Contents
TL;DR,
- With an ODP license, VALR now serves 1.6M users and 1,800 institutions, offering regulated crypto derivatives with up to 20x leverage in South Africa.
- FSCA approval expands VALR into futures, options, swaps, and OTC execution under strong consumer protection, AML/CFT, and reporting rules.
- This new license allows VALR to legally offer complex financial products like perpetual futures, CFDs, and options, moving beyond basic crypto exchange services.
VALR exchange, true to its pursuit of dominating South Africa’s crypto ecosystem, has secured an ODP license (Over-The-Counter Derivatives Provider) alongside the Financial Services Provider (FSP) license from South Africa’s FSCA.
With these two, VALR now has the regulatory green light to offer crypto derivatives with digital assets as the underlying instruments.
VALR Secures FSCA ODP License and FSP License, Opening Regulated Derivatives in South Africa
South Africa has set the bar when it comes to regulations, outpacing even Africa’s first regulated nation, Mauritius. Its goal is simple: a pro-crypto ecosystem, and VALR has become one of the few EXCHANGES at the frontier of this change.
The ODP license fundamentally transforms what VALR can legally offer South Africans. Unlike the Crypto Asset Provider (CASP) license that VALR already has, which only covers basic services like exchanging, holding, and transferring, the Over-The-Counter Derivatives Provider license allows VALR to offer more complex financial products usually found in traditional markets.
Crypto has grown to become more mainstream, steadily shifting into the traditional asset market. With this in mind, VALR’s scope now extends to Contracts for Difference (CFDs), Quarterly and Perpetual Futures Contracts, Options, Forwards, and Swaps.
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Typically, crypto derivatives have a structure familiar to forex and equity traders; however, they also include digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. The platform already operates a perpetual futures market, offering up to 20x leverage on popular trading pairs, including XRP/USDT, BTC/USDT, and ETH/USDT.
The platform also supports big trades and institutional executions, allowing for smooth OTC trading and giving clients the ability to find prices and make decisions outside of the public order book.
The FSCA requires that these products have full regulatory support and a framework for protecting consumers. Farzam Ehsani, VALR’s co-founder and CEO, commented:
“This ODP license represents a critical step in integrating crypto assets with established financial instruments, allowing us to deliver secure and compliant products to our clients. It underscores our commitment to regulatory excellence and operational integrity, and we’re very excited about introducing more and more products that serve our users.”
VALR’s Product Suite: Perpetuals, OTC, and Institutional-Grade Trading
VALR is among the top exchanges many South Africans favor, giving entities like Luno and Yellow Card some competition. The platform’s average daily trading volume for derivatives is between $727,000 and $1.1 million, and VALR perpetual futures are one of the most popular products. Keep in mind, these contracts lack an expiry date, allowing indefinite positions while paying or receiving funding rates based on market conditions.
As mentioned, the most popular trades often reflect global market trends while still maintaining local preferences. Its OTC trading is a complementary route for institutional adoption that seeks size, price, and reduced spillage. As of October, the platform has over 1800 corporate and institutional clients. The OTC trading and new derivatives are a unique combination that banks, wealth managers, and corporate treasurers can access all within a single FSCA-supervised platform.
Tokenized Stocks, DeFi Lending, and Global Expansion: VALR’s 2025 Highlights
While the ODP license is an extraordinary push for adoption and regulatory approval, VALR has a winning streak throughout 2025. As per its data, VALR’s user base has grown from 1 million users to 1.6 million in under a year, a 60% growth rate during this bullish crypto market cycle. Quickly after that, institutions started using it, and the number of users grew by 64%, from 1,100 to more than 1,800. Kenya is now the second-largest source of users.
VALR did launch a DeFi lending service powered by Aave, which lets customers lend USDC, USDT, and ETH and earn blockchain-based rewards every hour. This is a big step forward for the company. The platform also worked with MoonPay to make it possible for people in 180+ countries to use cryptocurrencies. This added 34 fiat currencies and multiple payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal to its repertoire.
valr exchange is becoming South Africa’s go to traing platform.[imagesource: VALR]
Other additional mentions include:
- Hacken’s Proof of Reserves audit in October 2025 showed that the ratio was 1:1 and that the collateral was more than 100% across assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, USDT, and USDC.
- Ripple USD (RLUSD) will be listed and promoted in September 2025 to help with stable, on-chain settlement and treasury use cases.
- Brand partnerships, including the DHL Stormers sponsorship, to widen reach and education
In terms of regulation, VALR was one of the first exchanges in South Africa to receive both Category I and Category II licenses from the FSCA, the foundation upon which the ODP license was built.
South Africa’s licensing framework—what’s under the hood
In order for exchanges and providers to understand how to trade crypto futures legally in South Africa, here’s a quick rundown of the FSCA’s multitered licensing framework.work.
First are the CASP licenses (Category I and II), which generally authorize advice, intermediary services, and investment management related to crypto assets. As per the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, all Casp must obtain an FSP license.
Furthermore, under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, CASPs must register as accountable institutions under Item 22 of Schedule 1 to FICA, subjecting them to comprehensive anti-money laundering (AML), counter-financing of terrorism (CFT), and counter-proliferation financing obligations.
FSP licenses allow for a wider range of financial services, such as giving advice and acting as an intermediary for traditional products like deposits, shares, bonds, and securities. Conversely, ODP licenses concentrate primarily on trading derivatives over the counter.
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Obtaining one isn’t a walk in the park. Entities must show that they know how to handle crypto assets, meet minimum qualifications, pass regulatory exams, be able to run a business, and be financially stable. Key people must also pass several regulatory tests to make sure they are still following cybersecurity standards, keeping client funds separate, following anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, and sending quarterly reports.
The fact that VALR has all four licenses shows how determined it is to become South Africa’s next crypto leader.
