Digital asset platform Bitexen has entered South Africa’s crypto market after 18 months of setting up a local presence.
According to the Türkiye-headquartered company, over the past 18 months, it has been preparing regulatory processes, operational groundwork and establishing banking relationships.
The move, it says, signals a shift toward tokenised assets, payment systems and broader digital asset use cases linked to the real economy.
Bitexen’s services include exchange operations, digital asset issuance and blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The company is expanding internationally, with a focus on regulated markets and services linked to tokenised real-world assets and fan tokens.
It has more than four million users globally and operates in Türkiye, Europe and the UAE.
Previously focused on operating as a digital asset exchange, Bitexen says it is now expanding its activities to include tokenised real-world assets, blockchain-based payments and services for financial institutions seeking to engage with digital assets in a more structured way.
Tokenisation refers to representing ownership or participation in an asset digitally, allowing it to be divided into smaller tradable units. This can broaden access to assets and enable more direct ownership, including in consumer-facing products.
Bitexen will compete with other exchanges in the country, such as Binance, VALR and Luno.
The company says it is targeting models that allow users to access and interact with assets in new ways, including fractional ownership of physical assets or participation tied to usage and revenue.
Bitexen says it targeted SA because the country’s financial system is relatively developed, and its regulatory framework, led by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, classifies crypto assets as financial products.
This introduces licensing and compliance requirements and provides clearer rules for companies operating in the sector, it says.
Bitexen has opened an office in Cape Town and is building a local team to manage operations, partnerships and regulatory requirements.
“We are building the financial infrastructure of the future at a global scale. In South Africa, real-world asset tokenisation, fan token ecosystems and digital payments will form key pillars of that strategy,” says Alphan Göğüş, global CEO of Bitexen.
Bitexen’s entry into SA reflects a broader shift in the digital asset sector, where companies are moving beyond trading volumes and focusing more on infrastructure and longer-term business models.
The company’s approach draws on its operations in Türkiye, where it has supported more than 80 token issuance events since 2020, raising about $65 million, it notes.
Many of these involved fan tokens linked to football clubs, aimed at increasing engagement between teams and supporters. These projects focused on utility and provided experience in issuance, platform integration and distribution, adds Bitexen.
“We are seeing a global shift away from purely trading-driven activity toward real-world applications of digital assets,” says Mark Diuga, CEO of Bitexen South Africa.
“South Africa presents a unique opportunity because of its regulatory maturity and financial sophistication, which allows us to build responsibly from day one.”
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