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South Africa’s Biggest Bitcoin Scam: Why MTI’s Masterminds Still Walk Free
South Africa’s Billion-Rand Bitcoin Scandal
Five years after its spectacular collapse, the masterminds behind Mirror Trading International (MTI), South Africa’s biggest-ever pyramid scheme, have yet to face justice.
MTI promised the impossible: steady monthly returns of up to 10% through bitcoin trading. From 2019 to 2020, thousands of hopeful investors around the world poured money into the scheme, believing they had discovered the future of passive income. Instead, they became part of a fraud so vast that it dwarfed every scam in South African history.
When the scheme finally crumbled, at least 39,000 bitcoins, worth a staggering R14.7 billion, had flowed through MTI’s accounts.
The Rise and Fall of MTI
MTI’s founder and CEO, Johann Steynberg, disappeared in December 2020 while travelling in Brazil. By then, cracks were already showing: withdrawal delays, vanishing funds, and anxious investors posting desperate pleas online.
The company was soon placed under liquidation, and what investigators uncovered confirmed the worst: MTI was a Ponzi-style pyramid scheme built on recruitment bonuses and recycled bitcoin deposits, not legitimate trading profits.
A year later, Steynberg was arrested in Brazil for using a fake ID. He was placed under house arrest while awaiting extradition to South Africa. But before he could stand trial, Brazilian authorities confirmed his death in April 2024 from a pulmonary embolism.
His death left thousands of victims without closure, and his associates, both in South Africa and abroad, are still unaccountable.
R1 Billion Recovered, By Luck, Not Justice
Despite the scale of the crime, only a fraction of the money has been recovered. Liquidators, working with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), managed to retrieve R1.1 billion, largely by chance.
MTI’s former brokerage, FXChoice, had frozen 1,281 bitcoins months before the collapse after noticing suspicious activity. When the scheme imploded, those bitcoins were sold through Luno, bringing in a windfall for the liquidation estate.
Most of that money, however, has already gone toward global court battles, asset tracing, and legal fees.
Legal Action, But No Accountability
Liquidators continue to pursue both perpetrators and participants of the scheme, hoping to recover additional funds. Some individuals have faced contempt charges for ignoring court summonses or withholding information.
But these are civil, not criminal, cases. South Africa’s law enforcement agencies, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), remain too under-resourced to prosecute such complex financial crimes.
The result is an uneasy truth: while victims count their losses, most of those who helped MTI grow still live freely, some reportedly running new ventures in the same murky online spaces.
The Global Comparison
Observers have drawn comparisons between MTI and other high-profile crypto collapses, such as the FTX scandal in the United States. There, founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested, tried, and sentenced to 25 years in less than a year.
In contrast, South Africa’s response to MTI has been painfully slow. Even the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not local authorities, took stronger action, ordering Steynberg to pay $1.7 billion (R33 billion) in restitution and penalties, the largest fine in the agency’s history.
A Culture That Enables Scams
Experts warn that South Africa’s enforcement gap has created fertile ground for repeat offenders. Pyramid and crypto-style schemes thrive because participants believe they can profit if they get in early and escape before collapse.
The FSCA has been vocal about tackling this culture, but without stronger policing, its warnings often fall on deaf ears. As one investigator told MyBroadband, “We want to prosecute. We just don’t have the capacity.”
The Road to Justice
MTI’s victims, some of whom lost life savings, are still waiting for accountability. The case has become a cautionary tale not only about greed but also about governance, a reminder that justice delayed can feel a lot like justice denied.
Until South Africa’s financial crime units are properly funded and empowered, the masterminds of the country’s biggest-ever bitcoin scam will likely remain exactly where they are: free.
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Source: MyBroadband
Featured Image: Sanlam Reality
