A recent court filing by auditor Jan Dekker provides an update on what has happened to the roughly R1.1bn in Bitcoin that was recovered by liquidators and sold in SA in 2021.

Moneyweb reports that the current value of the MTI estate is R627m, which is nearly R450m less than the R1.1bn recovered by liquidators in 2021.

Those funds were invested and earned interest, while further amounts were subsequently recovered by liquidators, which would have initially pushed up the value of the estate.

The report also highlights the reduced prospect of recovering any Bitcoin supposedly hidden by MTI founder, Johann Steynberg, who reportedly died of a heart attack in Brazil in April while awaiting extradition to SA to face fraud charges for his role in a Ponzi scheme that roped in 39 193 Bitcoin, valued at about R44bn at today’s prices.

The auditor report says 32 285 Bitcoin were paid out to investors before its collapse, leaving a shortfall of 6 908, worth about R7.7bn.

Tracking down this missing Bitcoin has so far proved impossible.

The report was filed in response to a case brought by two MTI investors seeking to place the company into business rescue on the grounds that it was not insolvent and could continue trading by generating a return on MTI’s remaining Bitcoin.

The case was later withdrawn.

Dekker disputes the claim of solvency by highlighting liabilities to the SARS and the order for $1.73bn issued by the US Western District Court in Texas.

Moneyweb notes that MTI investors have lodged claims of R1.62bn as of April 2024. A further amount of R120.4m in fees was paid to liquidators according to the June 2023 liquidation and distribution account – a figure that will have grown since then and which has raised eyebrows among many investors.

Liquidators have sent out thousands of summonses to investors in SA and around the world in the hope of recovering additional Bitcoin withdrawn from the scheme prior to its collapse in December 2020.

Attorney John Lister is representing more than 1 000 MTI clients who have received letters of demand from the liquidators for the repayment of Bitcoin to the estate.

‘The liquidators must explain what they are doing about paying people’s claims. Is all the money that’s sitting in that pot going to be used in litigation or are people who have lodged claims going to be paid?'

The liquidators say they are entitled under sections 26 and 32 of the Insolvency Act to demand repayment of any withdrawals from MTI as it was declared an unlawful Ponzi scheme in the Western Cape High Court in 2023.

That means that any agreements between the company and investors were void from the outset.

Full Moneyweb report