technology
Crypto’s youngest investors hold firm against headwinds — and headlines
These can be anxious times for holders of cryptocurrencies, especially those who entered the market in late 2021 when prices were cresting. Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and especially altcoins now appear to be undergoing a major reset, down 50% or more from November highs. Some worry that a whole generation of crypto adopters could be lost if things crumble further. “If the market decline continues, it will become too painful and retail investors will bail,” Eben Burr, president of Toews Asset Management, told Reuters earlier this month. “Everyone has a breaking point.” But, all the gloom and doom could be overdone. It’s “unnerving,” acknowledged Callie Cox, United States investment analyst at eToro, but it’s only par for the course for a market that scarcely existed a decade ago. Bitcoin, a...
Elon Musk’s Starlink to Provide Internet Services in Nigeria
Image sourced from Independent.co.uk. Elon Musk, a business magnate, announced that Starlink, a satellite internet service he launched through SpaceX, will be providing internet services to two countries in Africa including Nigeria. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also confirmed this announcement, according to TechCabal. This follows a visit to Nigeria by the Starlink’s team in May last year to discuss the possibility of obtaining a licence. SpaceX, Musk’s spacecraft engineering company, announced early in May that Starlink now operates in 32 countries. Starlink will bring competition to the Nigerian market, taking on large telecoms like MTN and Airtel in a bid to bring stable internet connection to the country. “The company received two licenses, which include the Internation...
South Africans Score Big Through Nedbank-linked Game
Image sourced from PYMNTS. Expand, a mobile app that rewards players with cash and airtime for their knowledge and attention to brands, products, and services, has taken South Africa by storm. At 20:00 every weeknight, tens of thousands of people from every corner of the country are glued to their mobile device screens in an attempt to win their share of cash and airtime, and a chance to win up to R10 000 ($645,48) in cash. A first of its kind globally, Expand is a digital game of skill that was made possible through a partnership between Nedbank and Expand. Since Expand first launched on 4 October 2021 as a web-based game, thousands of fun-loving South Africans have shared in cash and airtime prizes worth more than R5,5 million ($355 047,16). According to Maude Korte, Head of Commercialis...
In the Economy 3.0, metaverses will create jobs for millions
Job creation is traditionally engineered by politicians desperate to get the country back to work and to be seen as stimulating the economy. From the job creation programs of the Great Depression to United States President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act, employment schemes have a long, checkered history. Today, fostering meaningful employment for the masses remains as popular as ever with policymakers, and yet, the next great job creation scheme is unlikely to be issued as a top-down order. Rather, it will emanate from a realm that most politicians have little dominion over and few powers to control: the Metaverse. That virtual world running parallel to our physical one is not constrained by national borders, nor is it the fiefdom of social media companies cynically commandeering its nam...
Is there a secure future for cross-chain bridges?
The plane touches down and comes to a halt. Heading to passport control, one of the passengers stops at a vending machine to buy a bottle of soda — but the device is absolutely indifferent to all of their credit cards, cash, coins and everything else. All of that is part of a foreign economy as far as the machine is concerned, and as such, they can’t buy even a droplet of Coke. In the real world, the machine would have been quite happy with a Mastercard or a Visa. And the cash exchange desk at the airport would have been just as happy to come to the rescue (with a hefty markup, of course). In the blockchain world, though, the above scenario hits the spot with some commentators, as long as we swap traveling abroad for moving assets from one chain to another. While blockchains as decentraliz...
Identity and the Metaverse: Decentralized control
“The Metaverse” and “Web3” are the buzzwords of the moment, with their concepts permeating across the worlds of fintech, blockchain, and now even mainstream media. With decentralization thought to be at the core of the Web3 Metaverse, the promise of a better user experience, security and control for consumers is what’s driving its growth. But with users’ identities at the heart of the Metaverse, coupled with unprecedented amounts of data online, there are concerns over data security, privacy and interoperability. This has the potential to hinder the development of the Metaverse, but both regulated and self-sovereign identities could play an important role in ensuring that we truly own our identity and data within this new space. Related: Digital sovereignty: Reclaiming your private data in...
NFT 2.0: The next generation of NFTs will be streamlined and trustworthy
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been in the headlines for the past few years. While swaths of the population have tried to get their head around why NFTs exist, demand has soared, institutions have been built, and the lingo has entered our collective consciousness. There is an elephant in the room, though: NFTs are difficult to use and a majority of them are digital snake oil. But these problems create the opportunity to provide answers. The accessibility and legitimacy of NFTs are both ripe for change. As funding pours into the space, the market is starting to mature, and that change is gaining momentum. We’re entering a new era of NFTs — NFT 2.0 — where the technology will be more easily accessible by the mainstream, and the underlying value proposition of the NFTs will be more transparen...
Why Data Compliance is Critical for Your Business
The regulatory environment is a complex one that impacts all facets of a business. And if dealing with the continually evolving South African compliance landscape is not challenging enough, companies must also keep in mind new EU regulations that can also affect them even if they do not have operations there. Much of this comes down to how data is managed, the expectations of regulators, and how customers are influenced by this both locally and abroad. Every company, regardless of industry, uses data to improve engagement, enhance business processes, drive product innovation, and differentiate itself in a competitive market. As such, data must be managed as the mission-critical asset it is. This extends to policies, stewardship (as it pertains to the management and oversight of data), and ...
China’s TECNO Ranks Amongst Top 6 Brands in Africa
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Twitter Shareholder Sues Elon Musk for Share Price ‘Manipulation’
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Uber Hits One Billion Trips Milestone in Africa
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Nigerian Government to Train 200,000 Public Servants for eGovernment Initiative
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