A warning the FSCA shouldn’t have needed to issue

It boggles the mind that the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) had to issue a warning that the public must “act with caution” when conducting financial services-related business with Battle Steed AI.

It is perplexing that anybody would entrust Battle Steed with a cent.

Read: The blizzard of cases swamping the FSCA

“It has come to the attention of the FSCA that Battle Steed claimed on its website to be regulated by the FSCA. Battle Steed is not authorised in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 37 of 2002 (Fais Act) to render financial advice and intermediary services,” the financial services authority said in a statement.

“A person rendering financial advice or intermediary services in respect of financial products in South Africa must be licensed to do so by the FSCA.”

It added that it was unable to contact Battle Steed for further information.

Battle Steed did not reply to our questions either.

The FSCA’s standard warning that people should ensure that persons offering financial services should be registered as financial service providers and vetted by it seems unnecessary in this case.

A quick look at the Battle Steed website would make any sane person grab their wallet and run for the hills.

Most of the writing on the site makes no sense at all – not even if you look past all the spelling mistakes.

Take this sentence: “Hrouah the professional quantitative strategeam and the excellent Battle Steed Al quantitativrading engine, select high-quality quantitativestrategy products, tailor quantitativeinvestmenstrategies for DeFi investors, and provide profesional and immediate services in the form oinvestment consultants, so that the quantitativeinvestment consulting services that can only beenjoyed by high-net-worth investors are universalized, and help digital asset investors carefully anccomprehensively analyze the key factors of investnent, and better according to their own investment needs.”

Its attempt to describe its services doesn’t end there – but at least the second sentence isn’t quite so long.

“The future, the role of investors will undergo rofound transformation, from a pure “investor” tcuse of investment tools Thevel of yield will increasingly depend on thicreening ability of high-quality quantitative inteigent asset management tools, and make the aplication scenarios of quantitative trading tools irhe DeFi track completely universal.”

It looks like the brains behind Battle Steed are trying to say they use artificial intelligence (AI) to find profitable investments and believe AI can do it better than seasoned human fund managers.

Cryptic … currency

In case its AI promises aren’t enticing enough, Battle Steed has also launched its own currency.

Ironically, it decided to call its token BS (in fairness, probably short for Battle Steed).

“In order to efficiently promote the ecological development of Battle Steed AI, Battle Steed AI launched the ecological value certificate BS, with a total circulation of 100 billion pieces, running on the TRC chain,” according to an explanation on the Battle Steed website.

“The value and price of BS coins are highly related to the prosperity of the Battle Steed ecology, and act on the DAO governance of the Battle Steed AI ecology.”

The message they are trying to convey is that the token will appreciate in value if it gains wider acceptance. Users are urged to promote it.

The ‘history’ of Battle Steed

Battle Steed even claims to have achieved great success in October 2024 and in 2025, according to a timeline on its website.

Oh, and its BS token went live next February.

The website claims that 4.11 million users created accounts and 360 000 users participated in “AI quantitative” transactions.

It boasts users in every country in the world.

Spreading it around …

“AI transaction quantification strategy successfully runs on 1 690 blockchains and created a cumulative transaction volume of $3.9 billion. Accumulated profits for users of $285 million,” it says.

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“The purpose of Battle Steed is to allow each user to obtain long-term and stable income.

“Battle Steed assures all users that we can accumulate assets from here,” it says.

And perhaps as an afterthought: “Your income will definitely fall into your pocket.”

And just to be sure: “Trust is the first step to success, let’s build greatness together and continue this incredible journey together, spreading Battle Steed and building the world’s largest Web3 ecosystem.”

Warnings

It is amazing that Battle Steed secured any clients at all, never mind enough to earn warnings from authorities.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand issued its own warning about Battle Steed, which also falsely claims to be registered as a financial services provider in that country.

“Concerns have been raised about Battle Steed AI, which claims to be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register and presents an invalid FSP number on its website,” according to the FMA.

“Battle Steed AI is not licensed by the FMA, nor are they a New Zealand registered company and/or financial service provider. We are concerned that Battle Steed AI is holding out to be an authorised entity whilst offering financial services and products.” 

Where is it?

The Battle Steed website does not disclose where the business is located.

The website country code indicates that the website is hosted in Anguilla, a small island in the Caribbean and a British overseas territory.

The website disappeared a few days ago, but hundreds of other dubious brokers and scammers are still competing for gullible investors with money to share.

Read: Eight ways to identify a Ponzi scheme