Crypto exchange verification failed in South Africa: rejected, pending and limit problems

What this page covers, and what it does not

This page is for a verification that was rejected, is stuck on pending, or leaves you with limits you did not expect at Luno, VALR, AltCoinTrader or Ovex. It is not the explainer of what FICA requires and which level gives which limit; that is how crypto exchange KYC works in South Africa. A deposit that has not reflected (deposit not showing) or a withdrawal that is pending (withdrawal pending) has its own page, although both can be caused by a verification limit.

Every requirement below is attributed to the platform whose page states it, read on 7 September 2026. A rule published by one platform is not assumed to apply to another.

Direct answer

Separate the three states first. Rejected means the platform named, or implied, a defect in a document or photo: fix that defect and re-upload once. Pending means the platform has the documents and has not decided: wait, then use the platform’s own channel; do not re-upload (AltCoinTrader says a pending upload blocks a new one). Limit reached means verification succeeded at a level whose limit you have hit: the fix is the next level, not a new document. The matrix below shows what each platform accepts and where the published rules stop.

Diagnostic order

1. Which state are you in? A message naming the document or photo → rejected. “Under review” or no change → pending. “Withdrawals not permitted”, “limit” or a blocked deposit on a verified account → limit or restriction.
2. Which document was the problem? ID, proof of address, selfie or liveness, or tax information (VALR requires it for full verification).
3. Does the document meet that platform’s list? Tables below; a document one platform accepts may not be on another’s list.
4. Does the image meet the photo rules? Colour, original, all edges, no glare, no edits; AltCoinTrader’s selfie must be on a light neutral (not plain white) background with the ID next to your face.
5. Do the names and addresses match? Luno and Ovex require the proof of address to carry the same full name as the ID; a mismatch is a rejection on its own.
6. Is the document current? Proof-of-address age limits differ (3 months at Luno; 3 months or 1 year by document type at AltCoinTrader); VALR rejects expired IDs.
7. Is it a limit, not a failure? Check the level and its limit before contacting support.
8. Then contact the platform through its own channel, with the evidence listed at the end.

Accepted identity documents (South African accounts)

Platform	Accepted	Not accepted or rejection reasons	Selfie / liveness
Luno	National ID card (front and back), ID book, driving licence, valid passport; clear colour photo	Temporary IDs	Not specified on the documents page
VALR	Passport, national ID card front and back (green ID book via the ID card option), driver’s licence front and back; other government IDs if name, photo, date of birth, issue and expiry are on the front	Black and white, scanned copy, watermark, blur, glare, cut-off edges, expired or damaged ID	Follows the in-app prompts; tax information also required for full verification
AltCoinTrader	Green ID book, ID card, South African passport, foreign passport, asylum seeker permit; JPEG or PDF	Voting cards, ID number slips, student cards, edited documents, screenshots	Colour photo holding the ID next to your face, light neutral background (plain white not accepted), all ID details visible
Ovex	Physical ID captured in real time through the verification system	Not published	Facial recognition during capture

Accepted proof of address

Platform	Documents	Maximum age	Name rule
Luno	Utility bill, ISP statement, bank statement, mortgage statement, municipal rates and taxes, phone account, body corporate statement, insurance statement, traditional-authority or tertiary-institution letter	Issue date not older than 3 months	Must match the identity document
VALR	Not published	Not published	Not published
AltCoinTrader	Utility bill (post-box bills only with name, erf number, township and suburb), bank or financial statement, rates and taxes, mortgage statement, phone account, SARS correspondence; lease agreement signed by both parties; tax return or assessment	3 months for bills, statements and SARS correspondence; 1 year for a lease or tax return	Your name
Ovex	Bank statement, council bill, credit card statement, lease agreement, phone bill, utility bill, tax return	“Recent” (no figure)	Not published

Levels and the limits that produce “verification” problems

Platform	Before full verification	After	Published limits
VALR	Semi-verified: name, e-mail, phone only; no deposits, no trading	Fully verified: government ID plus tax information	Crypto withdrawals 0.2 BTC per day (fully verified), 100 BTC per day (fully verified PLUS, 2FA app)
Luno	Level 1 after basic verification	Levels by documents and address	Level 1 R15,000 lifetime deposits and withdrawals, Level 2 R50,000 per month, full verification no limit; rolling 30-day periods
AltCoinTrader	Level 1: unlimited deposits and trades, R100 withdrawal ever	Level 2 after FICA documents	R200,000 per 24 hours (Level 2); R1,000,000 (Level 3, 2FA active over a month); Level 4 by contacting support
Ovex	Trade and withdrawal limits “fixed until your account is verified”	After compliance review	Not published as figures

AltCoinTrader’s “withdrawals not permitted” message is the most common limit-type problem and has six published causes: unverified account, duplicate same-value deposits, a fraud-department flag, a withdrawal limit, an e-mail address change (hold until ownership is verified) and a 24-hour hold after a password change.

Platform-specific notes

• Luno: temporary IDs are refused; a proof of address older than 3 months or in another name is refused; limits are rolling, so a monthly limit does not reset on the first of the month.
• VALR: the ID rejection list is explicit and about image quality; full verification needs tax information as well as the ID; a semi-verified account cannot deposit or trade at all, which is often mistaken for a failed verification. No proof-of-address rule is published.
• AltCoinTrader: you can deposit and trade before verification, so a failed or pending FICA check shows up as a R100 withdrawal cap or the “not permitted” message; if the upload fails (file too large, multi-page, already pending), e-mail the documents from the registered address with the subject “FICA documents”.
• Ovex: ID capture is live with facial recognition, so a webcam or camera problem is a common failure; proof of address is reviewed by the compliance team with no published turnaround.

What not to do

• Do not edit, crop heavily or annotate a document; AltCoinTrader lists edited documents as refused and VALR lists watermarks and obfuscation.
• Do not upload a screenshot of a document.
• Do not re-upload while a review is pending at AltCoinTrader; the platform says the site will report documents already pending.
• Do not use someone else’s proof of address or bank account to “match” details.
• Do not send documents to any address other than the platform’s published support channel.

Evidence to prepare before contacting support

• Which document or step was rejected, and the exact message shown.
• A fresh, unedited colour photo that meets the platform’s rules, ready to attach or upload.
• For proof of address: the document’s issue date and the name on it.
• For a limit problem: your current level and the transaction that was blocked.
• Send from the e-mail address registered to the account.

Official pages: Luno identity documents, VALR ID requirements, AltCoinTrader account levels, Ovex verification.

Unresolved and unknown

• VALR publishes no proof-of-address policy and no review time.
• AltCoinTrader and Ovex publish no review time; Ovex publishes no limit figures.
• No platform publishes its internal rejection codes; where a reason is given above it is the platform’s published list, not an inference.

Next steps

• The full explainer of FICA, levels and limits: how crypto exchange KYC works in South Africa.
• If the limit is blocking a withdrawal: how to withdraw crypto to a South African bank account.
• Verified KYC summaries and limits on each profile: Luno, VALR, AltCoinTrader, Ovex.