policy_violation

The action was blocked by a policy: either a local SDK safety limit (spend caps, allowed operations) or an on-chain account/subnet policy (e.g. the destination rejects locked alpha).

For local policies, raise or remove the limit in your configuration. for on-chain policies, change the recipient/settings or ask the counterparty to opt in — the error name says which.

Remediation

The action exceeds a configured safety policy

Chain errors

The exact chain error names (from the extrinsic receipt) that classify to policy_violation; the description says what triggered the failure and where to check. Each name has its own page:

Chain error	Description
AccountRejectsLockedAlpha	Locked alpha was being transferred to a coldkey whose AccountFlags do not have the accept-locked-alpha bit set, e.g. during a lock transfer or coldkey swap of locks. Check the destination coldkey's AccountFlags storage and have the recipient opt in to receiving locked alpha before retrying.
KeepStakeBlockedByCollateral	A hotkey swap with keep_stake=true was refused because the old hotkey still has standing miner registration collateral. keep_stake leaves stake on the old key while the UID moves, which would strand the bond. Retry with keep_stake=false so collateral migrates with the UID; on-chain hotkey lineage maps track the rename for blacklist continuity. Or drain the bond through earned emission first.

The same explanation is available in the terminal: btcli explain policy_violation (or btcli explain <ChainErrorName> for one exact chain error).