Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Blue Label Telecoms to change its name as restructuring gathers pace

      11 July 2025

      Get your ID delivered like pizza – home affairs’ latest digital shake-up

      11 July 2025

      EFF vows to stop Starlink from launching in South Africa

      11 July 2025

      Apple plans product blitz to reignite growth

      11 July 2025

      Nissan doubles down on South Africa despite plant uncertainty

      11 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Cryptocurrencies » R4-billion in bitcoin traced as MTI placed into final liquidation

    R4-billion in bitcoin traced as MTI placed into final liquidation

    By Ciaran Ryan2 July 2021
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Collapsed bitcoin scheme Mirror Trading International (MTI) was placed in final liquidation this week by the Western Cape high court.

    This comes as liquidators revealed that they had managed to track down about 8 000 additional bitcoin, on top of the 1 281 bitcoin recovered from Belize-based broker FX Choice and sold for about R1.1-billion.

    An additional 8 000 bitcoin at current market prices is worth about R4-billion. Liquidators believe they will be able to track down more of the estimated 29 000 bitcoin that flowed into MTI.

    We obviously want to recover as much money as possible for members, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable

    The liquidators return to court on 8 September to argue that MTI should be declared a Ponzi scheme.

    This would make it easier to chase down funds the liquidators believe rightfully belong to the insolvent estate. Anyone opposing this has until 31 August to file their replying affidavits.

    Joint liquidator Riaan van Rooyen urged MTI members to lodge claims with the liquidators, saying they need not fear that they will be required to pay contributions to the insolvent estate.

    National roadshow

    “We obviously want to recover as much money as possible for members, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable. It’s important for members to know that they will not be required to pay into the estate just because they benefitted from withdrawals. It merely means that their claims will be reduced by the amount that they have already received in terms of withdrawals. If they paid in, for example, R30 000, and withdrew R10 000, this means their claim against MTI would be reduced from R30 000 to R20 000.”

    Covid lockdowns permitting, the liquidators plan to launch a national roadshow to contact as many members of MTI as possible and to assist them in lodging their claims.

    The chief beneficiaries of MTI’s multi-level marketing scheme were the founders and early adopters, including 50% shareholder Clynton Marks, who opposed the liquidation of the company and argued that there were good prospects of rescuing the company by other means.

    Some of the MTI leaders earned more than R100-million from the scheme, according to a data dump by a group called Anonymous ZA, and liquidators will be hunting down what they believe is undue enrichment.

    Some of the leaders of MTI, including Marks, are believed to have made hundreds of millions of rands from the scheme.

    MTI was declared by Chainalysis as the world’s biggest bitcoin scam in 2020.

    MTI boasted on its website of a computerised algorithm that generated returns of 0.5%/day, equivalent to about 180%/year — though when the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) investigated, it could find no evidence of an algorithm, or of any successful trading at all.

    The failed bitcoin scheme was placed in provisional liquidation in December 2020 after Steynberg went missing

    FX Choice froze MTI’s accounts due to extravagant and fraudulent claims about its trading success. The broker told the FSCA that 1 846 bitcoin were deposited with it between January and June 2020 – but of this, 566 bitcoin (about 30%) were lost.

    MTI was initially trading forex through FXChoice, but later purportedly switched to trading bitcoin through a new broker called Trade 300 – which the FSCA concluded was a fraudulent creation of CEO Johann Steynberg’s and did not exist as a bona fide brokerage.

    Warnings

    The failed bitcoin scheme was placed in provisional liquidation in December 2020 after Steynberg went missing, just days after MTI stopped processing any requests for withdrawals. The FSCA started issuing warnings about MTI in August last year, and advised members of the public to ask for their money back.

    MTI is reckoned to have had 280 000 accounts by the time it was shut down in December. This was built up through a multi-level marketing system that rewarded members with commissions of 10% on money invested by new referrals.

    Liquidators believe that number of accounts will reduce to between 150 000 and 180 000 once accounts opened in the name of family pets and other bogus accounts are stripped out.

    The multi-level marketing scheme was structured so that members could increase their earnings by extending their “down lines”, even to the point of naming their dogs as investors.

    Members can lodge their claims here.

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission

    Read more about MTI



    Cheri Marks Clynton Marks Mirror Trading International MTI Riaan van Rooyen top
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleFacebook asks: Are your friends becoming extremists?
    Next Article Most provinces reaching ‘red alert’ as Covid tightens grip

    Related Posts

    Local crypto exchanges must be licensed by year-end

    4 July 2023

    MTI boss ordered to cough up whopping R62bn in fraud case

    28 April 2023

    US files charges over South African bitcoin fraud scheme

    1 July 2022
    Company News

    $125-trillion traded: Binance redefines global finance in just eight years

    11 July 2025

    NEC XON welcomes HPE acquisition of Juniper Networks

    11 July 2025

    LTE Cat 1 vs Cat 1 bis – what’s the difference?

    11 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.