ABSA BECOMES AFRICA’S FIRST BANK TO OFFER DIGITAL-ASSET CUSTODY, BLOOMBERG REPORTS — BITCOIN IS THE MAIN ASSET IT HOLDS — THE SERVICE IS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS

Absa, the Johannesburg-based bank, has become the first bank in Africa to offer digital-asset custody, Bloomberg reported on October 2, 2026. The service is for South African institutions: asset managers, non-bank financial firms and corporates. Bloomberg reports it has approval from South African regulators.

Rob Downes, head of digital assets at Absa's corporate and investment bank, told Bloomberg that bitcoin is the main asset the bank holds, and that it is working with clients on others they want kept in South Africa.

The South African Reserve Bank's own count, as cited by Bloomberg, shows where that business sits now. Crypto assets in custody at the country's three biggest licensed providers, Luno, VALR and Ovex, reached R25.3 billion, about $1.5 billion, by the end of 2024. That was more than double the under R10 billion at the start of 2023.

A bank holding bitcoin for a fund manager is still someone else holding the keys. It is a more heavily regulated someone, and for an institution that may be the whole point. For everyone else, the coins nobody can freeze are the ones in a wallet you control. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $84,112.