A South African consultancy that bought out a shareholder entirely in cryptocurrency did the interesting part before the transaction: it obtained a written legal opinion on whether the deal would stand. That sequence, opinion first, transaction second, is the whole lesson, and it applies to anything a business does where the rules are unsettled.
The company’s own view was that this demonstrated ordinary business transactions can be conducted in cryptocurrency, and it went to a law firm to establish whether that view survived scrutiny.
Get the opinion before, not after
A legal opinion obtained beforehand either confirms the transaction works or identifies what must change. One obtained afterwards is a post-mortem. For any business doing something without clear precedent, the cost of the opinion is trivial against unwinding a completed transaction.
Unregulated does not mean unregulated forever
Where a central bank is running a regulatory process rather than having concluded one, the rules will arrive. Transactions concluded in the interim need to survive the framework that follows, which is exactly what an opinion should address rather than only the position today.
Valuation is the hard part of paying in a volatile asset
An equity buyout settled in an asset whose value moves sharply requires both parties to agree what the consideration was worth at a specific moment, and to accept what happens afterwards. That agreement belongs in the written terms, because the alternative is a dispute when the price moves.
Board support matters when there is no precedent
Directors approving a transaction nobody has attempted before carry the responsibility if it goes wrong. Securing explicit board support, recorded properly, protects everyone involved and is what a board is for in an untested situation.
Doing it first becomes a service line
A consultancy that completed an unprecedented transaction added the related consulting to what it sells. Businesses solving an unusual problem internally should ask whether other businesses face it too, since the internal work is frequently most of a new offering. The framework these transactions sit inside is administered by the South African Reserve Bank.
Frequently asked questions
What should come before an unprecedented transaction?
A written legal opinion, which either confirms the structure works or identifies what must change, at a cost trivial against unwinding it later.
Does unregulated mean safe?
No. Where a regulator is still working through a position, rules will arrive, and a transaction must survive the framework that follows.
What is the difficulty in paying with a volatile asset?
Agreeing what the consideration was worth at a specific moment and what happens as the value moves, which must be in the written terms.
Why does board approval matter here?
Directors carry responsibility for a transaction without precedent, so explicit recorded support protects everyone involved.
Can solving an internal problem become a business?
Frequently. If other businesses face the same problem, the work already done internally is most of a new service offering.
Further reading
Originally published in December 2017. Updated September 2026 to draw out what a business should establish before transacting where the rules are unsettled.
