Warren Wheatley, CEO of Africa Bitcoin Corporation — Warren Wheatley

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has disclosed the conduct behind the debarment of Africa Bitcoin Corporation founder Warren Wheatley and two others: coordinated trading that the regulator found artificially inflated the share price of the company four years ago, when it was still called Altvest Capital.

In a statement on Thursday, the FSCA said its investigation found that between 5 and 8 September 2022, Wheatley, then CEO of Altvest Capital, acted in concert with his wife, Tatum Keshwar-Wheatley, and with chief investment officer Akshay Karan. Their coordinated conduct created an artificially inflated share price, a false or deceptive appearance of the demand for, supply of or trading activity in Altvest shares, or both, the regulator said.

The parties contravened section 80(1)(a) of the Financial Markets Act of 2012, according to the FSCA. Altvest was listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange throughout the period in question.

The FSCA imposed an administrative penalty of R5-million on Wheatley and WGW Capital, jointly and severally. WGW Capital held 34% of Altvest at the time and Wheatley, as a director of it, executed trades through the company’s share trading account.

A further R3-million was imposed on Keshwar-Wheatley and Tatum Keshwar Investments, jointly and severally. That company held 17% of Altvest and Keshwar-Wheatley, its sole director, executed trades through its share trading account. Karan was fined R2-million for his involvement.

Each of the three has also been debarred for 20 years. The FSCA said the debarments were imposed on the basis that they contravened the Financial Markets Act, aided and abetted others in contravening a financial sector law, or both.

What the Sens did not say

TechCentral reported on Wednesday that the three had been debarred, that Wheatley had resigned from the board and that Stafford Masie had taken over as interim CEO. The company’s announcement to shareholders, published on Sens late on Tuesday, set out the effect of the orders but not their cause. It gave no reasons, no penalties and no term, saying the decisions had been communicated confidentially to the individuals and had not been published by the regulator. They have now been published.

Africa Bitcoin told shareholders that the FSCA had made no finding against any entity in the group and had imposed no administrative penalty or debarment on any group company. Thursday’s statement does not contradict that. WGW Capital and Tatum Keshwar Investments, the two companies penalised alongside the individuals, were shareholders in Altvest and the vehicles through which the trades were executed. Neither is a subsidiary of the listed group.

The conduct predates the strategy the company is now built on, though not the company itself: Africa Bitcoin Corporation is the same legal entity as Altvest Capital, renamed. Altvest bought its first bitcoin in February 2025, describing it as a systems test, proposed the name change in September that year and moved from AltX to the JSE main board in May 2026. The trading the FSCA investigated took place about two-and-a-half years before the first of those steps, when Altvest was a small financing group for SMEs listed in Cape Town.

All three dispute the FSCA’s findings and, the company said on Tuesday, intend to apply to the Financial Services Tribunal for reconsideration and suspension of the orders.

Wheatley resigned as a director of Africa Bitcoin Corporation with effect from 31 August. He, Karan and Keshwar-Wheatley — who heads the company’s media and investor relations — resigned as directors of Altvest Credit Opportunities Fund, the group’s wholly owned SME lender, on the same date. Wheatley and Karan were placed on precautionary leave from their executive roles from 31 August for an initial period of one month, subject to board review, and Keshwar-Wheatley’s services, provided through her consulting business, were suspended.

Masie, Google’s first country manager in South Africa, joined Altvest as lead independent director, became executive chairman in September 2025 when the bitcoin strategy was announced and later moved to the role of director of bitcoin strategy. Speaking to TechCentral on Wednesday, the day before the FSCA published its findings, he said he could not comment beyond the company’s announcement, and that Wheatley would not be commenting.

The company held 5.5331 bitcoin after its most recent purchase in May, against an announced ambition to raise up to US$210-million to buy the asset. Its shares are thinly traded, leaving the price exposed to sharp moves on small volumes. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media