Old emails, bank statements and wallet histories may help reconstruct transactions when an exchange's records are no longer available, says Forvis Mazars' Dr Wiehann Olivier.
When a crypto exchange closes, customers can lose access to statements they may need years later. An investor preparing a tax return may then have to explain a purchase without being able to log in and download its history.
Carel de Jager raised his own experience of holding funds on collapsed platforms during an interview hosted by David at TalkingCents on 13 October 2026.
Dr Wiehann Olivier, partner and global co-head of digital assets at Forvis Mazars, said other evidence is often still available, although whether it supports the purchase cost has to be judged case by case.
Watch the excerpt: Crypto Exchange Closed? What Records Could Still Help?.
Look beyond the exchange statement
Olivier pointed to bank statements, wallet records, emails, downloaded reports, screenshots and blockchain records. What matters is whether they are reliable and consistent with the taxpayer's account of what happened.
For example, a bank payment may show that money went to an exchange, while an email confirms a trade and a wallet record shows the asset leaving the platform. Those records need to be read together. None proves a purchase cost simply because it mentions a payment or transfer.
Where a platform collapsed while holding a customer's assets, the treatment of that loss is a separate question. A closed exchange does not, by itself, establish that a particular tax deduction is available.
Start while the records are still available
The purchase history matters because, for an asset treated on capital account, its base cost is compared with the disposal proceeds to calculate the gain or loss. SARS sets out the principle in its base-cost guidance.
Olivier urged taxpayers to reconstruct the history early. Waiting for an audit or dispute years later can make the search harder as information becomes less accessible.
If you are missing an old exchange statement:
- List the exchanges and wallets used, including accounts that are now closed.
- Search old email accounts, bank records and saved files for transaction confirmations and exports.
- Keep the original documents and record which transactions they support, highlighting any unresolved gaps for a practitioner to review.
Bring the available evidence together
De Jager described how Coinfig brings records from different sources into a single history and flags gaps. That can help a taxpayer and practitioner see which transactions have supporting information and which still need investigation.
Investors who still have some of their history can load it into Coinfig.tax to see which purchases are covered and which gaps remain to raise with a tax practitioner.
Related reading
- Missing crypto records could leave South Africans paying more tax than they owe
- Capital or revenue? The question to settle before calculating crypto tax
Drawn from an interview with TalkingCents on 13 October 2026. This is general information. Whether a particular record is accepted as evidence depends on the circumstances.