South Africa’s financial regulator has imposed a combined R10mn ($540,000) in penalties and 20-year debarments on three senior executives of Africa Bitcoin Corporation, the continent’s first listed company to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset, after finding they manipulated the company’s shares four years ago.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said its investigation found that between September 5 and 8, 2022, Warren Wheatley, then chief executive of Altvest Capital — the company now known as Africa Bitcoin Corporation — acted in concert with his wife Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley and chief investment officer Akshay Karan to create an artificially inflated share price and a false or deceptive appearance of demand for Altvest shares.
At the time of the unlawful transactions, Altvest shares were listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange, having made its debut there just four months earlier in May 2022. The company was then a small, thinly traded investment platform seeking to offer retail investors access to private-market assets.
The FSCA imposed an administrative penalty of R5mn ($313,121.75 USD) on Mr Wheatley and WGW Capital, a company in which he was a director and which held a 34 per cent stake in Altvest at the time, jointly and severally. Mr Wheatley executed trades through WGW Capital’s share trading account.
A further R3mn ($187,839.76 USD) penalty was imposed on Mrs Keshwar-Wheatley and Tatum Keshwar Investments, which owned about 17 per cent of Altvest. As sole director of the company, she executed trades through its trading account. Mrs Keshwar-Wheatley was crowned Miss South Africa in 2008.
Mr Karan was fined R2mn for his involvement.
All three were debarred for 20 years, effectively barring them from participating in South Africa’s financial services industry for that period. The FSCA said the debarments were imposed on the basis that they had contravened the Financial Markets Act of 2012 and had aided and abetted others in contravening a financial sector law.
From Altvest to Africa Bitcoin Corporation
The regulatory action comes at a critical juncture for the company. In 2025, Altvest formally adopted a Bitcoin reserve strategy, rebranding as Africa Bitcoin Corporation and positioning itself as the first listed African company to hold Bitcoin as a primary treasury reserve asset.
The company announced plans to raise $210mn (R3.68bn) to acquire Bitcoin, following the strategy pioneered by Michael Saylor’s Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — which now owns more than 630,000 Bitcoin worth about $70bn.
Africa Bitcoin Corporation is now listed on multiple exchanges including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, A2X, the Namibia Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the OTC Markets. It currently holds 5.53 Bitcoin on its balance sheet, worth approximately R6.68mn ($418,218.83 USD), with plans to scale that position.
The company was on the verge of a secondary listing on the Access segment of the Aquis Growth Market in London, with trading originally scheduled to begin on August 17, but the plans were delayed.
The investigation’s findings
The FSCA’s investigation found that the three executives coordinated their trading activity over just four days in September 2022. The regulator said the amounts involved in the trades were not the issue, but rather the harm caused and the intention behind the trades. At the time, Altvest was an illiquid stock, meaning even relatively modest transactions could have a significant effect on both the quoted price and the appearance of investor interest.
The parties were found to have contravened section 80(1)(a) of the Financial Markets Act, which prohibits false or deceptive trading practices.
The timing of the trades was notable. On September 5, 2022, Altvest launched the public offer for its first investment product — linked to the Umganu luxury safari lodge, which was partly owned by the South African-born English cricketer Kevin Pietersen. The following day, the company’s shares began trading on the A2X exchange.
All three individuals dispute the FSCA’s findings and have indicated they will apply to the Financial Services Tribunal for reconsideration and suspension of the decisions. In court papers, they have argued that the amounts involved in the trades were extremely small and that their only intention was to investigate whether tax was being applied correctly by their broker. As of the date of this announcement, no order suspending the FSCA decisions has been granted, meaning the decisions remain effective.
The company’s board was informed of the FSCA’s decisions on August 30. Mr Wheatley has since resigned from the board. The board placed Mr Wheatley and Mr Karan on precautionary leave of absence from their roles as CEO and CIO respectively, effective August 31 for an initial period of one month. The services provided by Mrs Wheatley, via her consulting business, have also been suspended.
Stafford Masie, an existing executive director and the company’s director of Bitcoin strategy, has been appointed interim chief executive with immediate effect. Mr Masie is a well-known figure in South African technology and joined the company as lead independent director before becoming executive chairman when the Bitcoin strategy was announced in September 2025.
“We are sympathetic to what Warren, Akshay and Tatum are experiencing,” Mr Masie said following the announcement. “They have played an important role in building an incredible business and establishing a platform with the potential to make a meaningful contribution to South African enterprise and economic growth.”
He added that his responsibility, together with the board and the broader team, was “to hold the line, providing stability, protecting what has been built, and maintaining momentum while the three individuals exercise their legal rights to challenge the FSCA decisions”.
The FSCA has clarified that the decisions were not issued against any entity within the group, nor was there any finding, administrative penalty or debarment order imposed on any group companies.
Regulatory context
The enforcement action comes as South Africa has been strengthening its regulatory oversight of crypto assets. By the end of 2025, the FSCA had issued 300 crypto asset service provider licences. In August 2026, National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank published draft rules bringing crypto assets expressly within the country’s exchange control framework.