South African Reserve Bank probes DA finance chair Mark Burke's crypto firm Kastelo over R4 billion transfers

The South African Reserve Bank is investigating Kastelo, a fintech and cryptocurrency arbitrage trading company founded by Democratic Alliance federal finance chairperson Mark Burke, over alleged exchange-control contraventions involving approximately R4 billion ($246 million), after the Johannesburg High Court dismissed the company's bid to have its frozen bank accounts unfrozen.

Acting Judge S. Johnson dismissed Kastelo's application and ordered costs on the punitive attorney-and-client scale, a ruling that handed the Reserve Bank a significant legal victory and kept the company's accounts blocked while investigators continue their work.

Kastelo's bank accounts were frozen on Nov. 25, 2025, on allegations that its crypto arbitrage trading service contravened South Africa's exchange control regulations. The company was accused of circumventing exchange controls by offering customers bonuses for using their annual foreign investment allowances to purchase Bitcoin overseas and selling it in South Africa, allegedly lending customers the money to consume more of their annual allowance and keeping most of the profits for itself.

An affidavit by Reserve Bank investigator André Malherbe alleged that Kastelo misrepresented its business activities to authorities in a bid to circumvent the country's exchange controls, and that the company's portfolio held R891 million ($54.8 million) in individual single discretionary allowances and R8.9 billion ($547 million) in individual foreign investment allowances.

The Reserve Bank's affidavit alleged that Kastelo used clients' single discretionary allowances and foreign investment allowances without their full knowledge, opened offshore bank accounts in their names, and misrepresented its activities in compliance declarations to the central bank.

Kastelo has denied the allegations. The company said Burke stepped down as chairman in February 2026. "While he retains an indirect interest in the group, he is no longer involved, either in an executive or non-executive role," Kastelo said. "Mark Burke is not a party to the court proceedings, nor the subject of the SARB's investigation. Kastelo has never provided funding, or any other benefit, for any political purpose or to any political party."

Burke served as Kastelo's chief executive until June 2024, when he entered Parliament following the May 2024 national elections, handing operational control to Nicholas Burke while remaining as chairman. The company is currently run by Nicholas Burke.

The allegations have sparked immediate political fallout. The ANC has called for Burke's removal as the DA's chief representative on Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance, with the party's Cameron Dugmore arguing it is untenable for an MP associated with a company under investigation for alleged violations of financial laws to remain on a committee that oversees South Africa's financial architecture.

DA leader George Hill-Lewis has stood by Burke, saying no allegations of wrongdoing have been made against Burke personally and that the latest court action related to the lawfulness of the Reserve Bank's blocking order rather than Burke's conduct. Hill-Lewis said the DA respected the independence of the Reserve Bank and the courts and would allow the regulatory process to run its course.

The case has drawn comparisons to other controversies involving senior DA figures. Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast warned that the political damage could begin long before any final finding, noting that politics is about optics and perceptions.

The Reserve Bank has up to 36 months from the date of the freeze to conduct a full-scale investigation under South Africa's Currency and Exchanges Act. All allegations against Kastelo remain unproven. The company retains the right to challenge the blocking order through a separate review process under exchange control regulations.