The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has debarred three former leaders of Africa Bitcoin Corporation for 20 years each and fined them over share trades made in 2022, when the company still traded as Altvest Capital. The regulator has also confirmed a second, separate investigation into trading in Africa Bitcoin Corporation securities during April and May 2026. The company says no group entity has been found to have done anything wrong, and the three individuals dispute the findings.
What Africa Bitcoin Corporation does
According to a Daily Maverick explainer, the company began as Altvest Capital, set up to give retail investors access to alternative private equity assets through special preference share classes. It listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange in May 2022, added a secondary listing on A2X, moved to the JSE’s AltX by October 2024 and moved up to the JSE Main Board in May 2026. It also has secondary listings in Namibia, the United States and Frankfurt.
In 2025 it repositioned itself as a listed bitcoin treasury company. TechCentral reported that it held 5.5331 bitcoin after a purchase on 27 May 2026, and described its shares as thinly traded. Daily Maverick says its core business remains a private credit loan book for smaller companies, run through a subsidiary, Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund.
What the FSCA found and the penalties it imposed
The FSCA’s decisions were communicated to the board on 30 August 2026, the company announced them on SENS on 1 September and the regulator published its findings in a media statement on 3 September, as reported by Moonstone.
The regulator found that between 5 and 8 September 2022, then chief executive Warren Wheatley acted in concert with his wife, Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley, and chief investment officer Akshay Karan in trades in Altvest shares. It found that the trading artificially inflated the share price or created a false or deceptive appearance of demand, supply or trading activity, in breach of section 80(1)(a) of the Financial Markets Act. The debarments rest on contravening that Act, aiding and abetting others to contravene a financial sector law, or both.
The penalties, as reported by TechCentral and Moonstone, were:
- R5 million on Wheatley and WGW Capital, jointly and severally. WGW held 34% of Altvest and Wheatley traded through its account.
- R3 million on Keshwar-Wheatley and Tatum Keshwar Investments, jointly and severally. That company held 17% of Altvest.
- A separate penalty on Karan, reported as R2 million by TechCentral and EWN, and as R1 million by Moonstone.
Each debarment bars the person from providing or being involved in financial products or services, acting as a key person of a financial institution, or providing services to one. The FSCA’s action was against the individuals and their investment vehicles, not against the listed company.
The company’s account and the individuals’ challenge
In its own account, Africa Bitcoin Corporation said no finding, administrative penalty or debarment had been imposed on any group entity, and that the decisions do not change its legal structure, the credit fund’s mandate or investors’ rights. Moonstone noted that the FSCA identified WGW Capital and Tatum Keshwar Investments as shareholders, not subsidiaries.
The board placed Wheatley and Karan on leave from 31 August and suspended Keshwar-Wheatley’s consulting services, calling the steps “precautionary and non-disciplinary”. Wheatley resigned from the board, and all three stepped down as directors of the credit fund. Executive director Stafford Masie became interim chief executive. Wheatley later resigned as chief executive and employee.
The three dispute the findings and said they would apply to the Financial Services Tribunal for reconsideration and for the orders to be suspended. At the time of the company’s announcement no suspension had been granted, so the debarments are in force.
A second investigation and a boardroom split
On 14 October the FSCA told Moonstone that it registered an investigation on 4 September into whether certain transactions in Africa Bitcoin Corporation securities in April and May 2026 contravened section 80 of the Financial Markets Act. “This is an ongoing investigation,” the regulator said, adding that it could not give further detail. No finding has been made in that matter. The company had not responded to Moonstone’s request for comment.
Governance has also shifted. Moonstone and Daily Maverick report that WGW Capital and other shareholders holding about 71.8% of ordinary shares sought the removal of sitting directors, and on 9 October four directors, including the chair and the interim chief executive, resigned. Daily Maverick reports that Wheatley and Karan are contesting the debarments in their personal capacity.
What it means for investors and business owners
Despite the bitcoin label, the sanctions so far concern old-fashioned share trading rules, not crypto regulation. The 2022 conduct was judged under the Financial Markets Act’s ban on trading that creates a false picture of demand or price, and the new probe is under the same section. None of the sources reviewed tie the FSCA’s action to crypto asset licensing.
For shareholders, the practical points are clear. A company can be untouched by a regulator’s finding while its founders and controlling shareholders are not. Thinly traded shares are more exposed to price distortion. And a debarment that is under challenge still applies until a tribunal suspends it. Anyone holding or weighing the stock should follow the Financial Services Tribunal process and the outcome of the second FSCA investigation.
