Latest news with #LindseySchutters
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Lockdown whiskey solution to local liquor industry woes
Six hundred bottles of Reminisce were made and they are exclusively available on the Darling Breweries website — except a bottle that was bought blind at a school fundraiser in 2023. (Photo: Lindsey Schutters) Darling Breweries' managing director Tewie Roos still remembers the day the pandemic lockdown's unintended consequences arrived by the truckload. Retailers, barred from selling alcohol under Covid-19 regulations, sent back perfectly good beer, demanding credit. It stacked up on the brewery floor, eating into cash flow. Some of it was days from its best-before date; some had already ticked over. Excise officials, locked down like everyone else, weren't around to supervise destruction. The only legal path to recovery was to spend even more money and turn it into something else. Read more: As tariffs loom, alcohol brands toast a new era 'People thought I was crazy,' Roos says, recalling his plan to distill the beer into whisky. 'Here we were, making a loss, and I wanted to incur more costs. But I saw a long-term opportunity.' Partnering with master distiller George Dalla Cia, Roos shipped 30,000 litres of returned beer to a still in Stellenbosch. The result, five years later, is Reminisce. An unfiltered, naturally coloured, limited-edition whisky, packaged like a storybook (library card and all) and sold in numbered bottles. Feeling the squeeze Roos tells the tale of regulatory reality facing small brewers: 'The challenge that we see in the market is that legislation and excise is currently driven so high that approximately 20% of liquor in any store is illicit liquor, not paying excise.' He gives Daily Maverick a back of the envelope calculation: 'If we take a bottle of brandy… your excise tax component at 42% will be in the region of R92 a bottle. Then you get guys who sell brandy at R90. How do you do that? It's not possible unless you don't pay excise tax.' What this means for you The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has updated the Liquor Act, with ripple effects likely to hit your wallet and your choice of local brands. For local producers: Stricter licensing requirements and more detailed reporting mean higher admin and legal costs, which small producers can least afford. With excise increases still linked to inflation-plus hikes, small brewers and distillers will continue to fight margins that are already wafer thin. For the shelf price: Compliance costs, higher excise, and potential moves toward minimum unit pricing (already trialled overseas) could nudge retail prices up, especially for entry-level spirits and beer in large formats. If small producers can't absorb costs, some may cut product lines or exit the market entirely, leaving shelves dominated by big, well-financed players. For consumers: Expect more limited-edition, higher-margin products like Reminisce (R3,500 per bottle) aimed at premium buyers, while budget-conscious consumers may see fewer affordable craft options. With Heineken and AB InBev dominating production, their pricing strategies will carry more weight, and less local competition could mean slower innovation. Regulatory tweaks designed to formalise and control the industry could make your weekend drink pricier and less local, unless policymakers heed calls to give smaller producers a break. Roos needs some mathematical grace for his numbers, but the point is that this creates what economists call a policy paradox — high excise rates designed to curb consumption and raise revenue instead incentivise tax avoidance. For craft producers like Darling Brew, a beer excise of R145.07 per litre of absolute alcohol sometimes exceeds production costs. 'Don't charge me as a small [producer] a maximum excise; incentivise me,' Roos argues. 'I employ much more people per litre than a major player. Rather incentivise the small guys because that creates real jobs on the ground.' First, do no harm But the industry's calls for lower excise rates run headlong into a stark public health reality. Dr David Harrison, CEO of the DG Murray Trust, challenges the narrative that regulation punishes the poor. 'The fact is that the legal liquor industry is a major contributor to injury, disease and death in South Africa,' Harrison argues in a statement shared with Daily Maverick. 'Alcohol is a factor in about half of all homicides, traffic accidents and gender-based violence in this country.' Even if the claims about illicit trade are accurate — that illegal products represent a fifth of the market — Harrison points out that 'legally manufactured alcohol contributes up to four-fifths of the total alcohol harm in South Africa'. Read more: SA's resilient wine industry learns to adapt and survive The trust's data reveals a troubling pattern: alcohol-related mortality in poorer communities runs 4.5 times higher than in wealthier areas. 'Many people in poorer communities drink to escape the hardships of daily life,' Harrison notes. 'The alcohol industry capitalises on their misery, flooding their communities with large quantities of liquor at lower prices.' This isn't just about excise rates — it's about design choices that shape consumption patterns. Consider SAB's one-litre Castle Lager bottles, which Harrison notes contain 'enough pure alcohol to push a drinker's blood alcohol content well above the legal driving limit'. These large containers sell for 2.5 times less per litre than equivalent amounts in smaller bottles — a pricing strategy that Harrison argues 'suggests a deliberate design to promote excessive consumption'. Legacy by design Research supports this concern. South African studies show that larger containers encourage people to drink more, making them a prime target for minimum unit pricing policies that have shown success in Scotland and Wales. South Africa's liquor landscape has always been shaped by law, rarely in ways that favoured small producers or public health. The dop system kept farm workers dependent on alcohol until 2003. The 1928 Liquor Act formalised racial prohibition, pushing black South Africans into illicit shebeens. The 1924 KWV Act gave white wine farmers monopolistic powers to fix prices, regulate surpluses and monopolise exports for 70 years. Today's market concentration — dominated by AB InBev and Heineken — represents the latest chapter in this story of regulatory capture and economic control. How Reminisce was made Master distiller George Dalla Cia used a discontinuous salamander still to transform beer into whisky. (A 'salamander still' is named after the amphibian due to the visual similarity of the radiant heat source to a salamander's back.) The returned beer, averaging 5% alcohol, went through bain marie distillation, a gentle process that never exceeds 100°C. The vapour passes over marble chips to neutralise preservatives, then through fractional distillation to concentrate flavour. From 800 litres of beer, about 60 litres of whisky at 70-75% alcohol emerge, later diluted to 46% for bottling. Aged five years in re-charred bourbon casks, Reminisce carries a distinct honey aroma with a clean finish, almost IPA-esque (India Pale Ale) and oddly fruity. A spirit born of crisis, patience and a bit of lockdown alchemy. Dalla Cia, who helped transform the returned beer into whisky, sees echoes of his family's Italian experience. His father left Italy in the 1970s amid Mafia influence, corruption and bureaucratic sabotage. A shipment of grape skins for grappa (the family's legacy spirit) was deliberately blocked until it rotted, thanks to competitors bribing port officials. 'I'm done. I'm out of here. I don't want to raise my children in this kind of environment,' his father declared before moving to South Africa. The same forces of entrenched monopolies, skewed regulation and the vulnerability of small producers are still here, just in different guises. For Dalla Cia, that means innovating and lobbying for a system that doesn't punish the smallest players. 'It's about teaching people how to fish,' Dalla Cia says. 'Not just collecting the fish.' DM
Daily Maverick
28-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
After the Bell: Our changing lives — a tale of two mergers
At the heart of it really are the promises that Vodacom and Maziv have made — that they will connect hundreds of thousands of homes in low-income areas to broadband fibre internet. There is a wonderful phrase media experts have used to describe to me people who listen to talk radio. They talk about older people, and those who are 'attitudinally interested' in news. The fact you have opened this mail suggests you are 'attitudinally interested' in business, news and our economy. I would use that phrase to describe my vague interest in business when I was younger. Stories about mergers and deals didn't really seem to affect me. So what if two mining companies were now one? The price of platinum didn't really matter to me. But two mergers going through our economy right now will have a huge impact on me. And because of your attitudinal interests, they will affect you too. The first is the Vodacom-Maziv merger. The second is the MultiChoice-Canal+ deal. Together, they show how our society and economy are changing, and what this will mean for how you spend your time. Broadband At the heart of it really are the promises that Vodacom and Maziv have made. As Lindsey Schutters writes in this incredibly useful explainer, they have essentially promised that they will connect hundreds of thousands of homes in low-income areas (think townships) to broadband fibre internet. Now think for a second about how the internet has changed your life. No matter where in the world your family is, having mobile data means you can communicate on WhatsApp. And, if you want, for very little money, you can make a voice call to them. The first time I realised the unbelievable power of this was in 2012. I was on holiday in someone else's very expensive house in Zinkwazi, recovering from the ANC's Mangaung Conference (the recovery from the holiday is a story I need not trouble you with here). The person who ran the house was from Malawi. I went to ask him something and he was in the middle of a call to a family member. Being in the middle of my transition from Nokia to Android, I had no idea such a thing was possible on WhatsApp. Considering the 150-year history of migrant labour in southern Africa, of how so many people have come here from other countries, and lived apart from their families, you can imagine the impact daily voice calls would have for this market. Now there will be a step change. It will not just be voice calls — fibre brings pictures, video calls, a complete change in life. The fact that it is usually un-metered means you can just download as much as you like (the record among people I know is held by a teenager. Somehow she was able to use around 14GB a day … if you can beat that, please get in touch.) This complete freedom of data (that's not strictly accurate, there will be bills to pay for it) means that you can live a completely different life. There are many businesses that are completely online, so there will be no hindrance for people to jump on to this and hopefully make money. Marketing costs For people who run physical businesses, like informal carwashes or hairdressers, their marketing costs will be virtually zero. Social media is all they need. But more than that, hopefully, there will be more access to better-quality education from virtually anywhere in the world. While I no longer believe virtual education is as effective as the physical kind, I still hope that someone somewhere in the world will come up with a system (perhaps for tertiary levels) that is effective for many people. This would hopefully help millions of people build on whatever they have been given by our basic education system (while I believe that millions of people have been betrayed by our schools, there are still many people who have benefited immensely). Considering the awful physical environments in which so many of our people live, anything that helps them have lives outside of this is a fantastically good thing. (This may be why so many shacks have satellite dishes — if you live in a terrible place, entertainment that takes you out of that place is essential.) During the load shedding era, the SA Reserve Bank estimated that a lack of reliable power was costing our economy about 2 percentage points of GDP growth. I can't even begin to imagine what incredibly cheap fibre will do to where people actually live. But it should, surely, help our economy. That said, it is really the bare minimum for us to keep up with the rest of the world. While the Vodacom-Maziv merger is not really driving the MultiChoice-Canal+ merger, one transition is clearly driving the other. Perhaps the biggest class difference between my wife and I is that she grew up with M-Net and I did not. Completely unfairly, she also had Bop TV. Virtual monopoly DStv made millions for a very long time in many places with its virtual monopoly both on entertainment and the live shared event that is sport. That is now under threat simply because with fibre comes streaming and with streaming comes intense competition. The rise of streaming has led to what has been called 'The Golden Age of TV'. This probably ended in 2023, which is why you can still spend so much time on a streaming service on a Friday night looking for something you and your children can all tolerate. The rollout of fibre broadband to millions of people would lead to massive changes in our society. Whether you are attitudinally interested in this transition or not, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more mergers that start to affect you directly as a result of this significant change. DM
Daily Maverick
20-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Is Bitcoin useful yet? The question explored in ‘Decrypting Crypto: the utility conversation'
Forget speculation – can you buy bread with Bitcoin? Daily Maverick's second Decrypting Crypto webinar tackled whether crypto's promise of real-world use is finally growing roots from South Africa's (SA's) townships and suburbs to shops and remittances. Bitcoin's rocket ride is well known – a single coin, worth around R3,300 at the end of 2014, then called the worst investment of that year, is now worth more than R2-million. While exchanges do exist to turn Bitcoin into fiat currency, the question remains: is Bitcoin gaining real practical utility for ordinary South Africans? The answer is that while it's still early days, cryptocurrency is becoming more practical to use in everyday life, thanks to growing adoption and an expanding range of real-world applications. In this second edition of Business Maverick's Decrypting Crypto webinar series held on 10 July 2025, crypto journalist Lindsey Schutters looked to unpack the issue beyond the hype of the marketplace, in conversation with Larry Cooke, head of legal for Binance Africa, and Hermann Vivier, founder of Bitcoin Ekasi and Chairman of The Surfer Kids. It's about simplicity For Vivier, Bitcoin's usefulness isn't just about whether it works as a payment system. It's about what it represents. 'Bitcoin was created specifically as a response against central banking,' he said. 'Satoshi Nakamoto recognised that the basic problem is the centralisation of control. So the answer to that is decentralisation.' Vivier's motivation isn't profit, but principle. 'Utility is a second-layer conversation. The first layer is ideology,' he explained. 'If my utility application of this thing loses sight of that core question, then I'm not doing it right.''I want to be able to do everything I do with normal money. I want to be able to do that with Bitcoin – in the simplest, most straightforward way possible,' he continued. Building Bitcoin Ekasi But ideals are tested in the real world – which is exactly why he helped launch Bitcoin Ekasi in Mossel Bay. Inspired by El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, the project is building a circular economy around Bitcoin. Salaries are paid in crypto, and spaza shops are encouraged to accept it. 'We've onboarded about 50 businesses in the community,' Vivier said. 'We currently pay 22 staff salaries entirely in Bitcoin. The coaches at Surfer Kids use that money to buy essentials like groceries and electricity. Where Bitcoin isn't accepted, I sometimes convert to rand – but the goal is for crypto to be used as is.' It's not an overnight transformation, though. 'Adoption is slow. It's gradual. And that's normal,' Vivier said. 'Money changes very slowly. Just look at how long it took to go from gold to fiat, or for credit cards to become mainstream.' Everyday use, and a grocery pocket While Vivier is building grassroots use cases, Cooke sees crypto utility growing both personally and institutionally. At Binance Africa, he focuses on legal frameworks, consumer protection and enabling everyday use. Cooke uses his Binance wallet to pay for groceries at Pick n Pay via the Lightning Network, a fast and cheap transaction layer built on top of Bitcoin. 'Freedom of money – that's our slogan,' he said. 'It's about giving consumers control over their assets and allowing them to choose the tools that work best for them.' He distinguishes between personal utility – how individuals make their money more efficient – and general utility, where a broader ecosystem enables spending and saving with crypto. 'What you're trying to solve for is efficiencies,' he explained. 'How do I get the most out of my money? How do I make it simpler, better, faster?' Taxes, scams and the chain that doesn't lie Crypto may be borderless, but Sars treats it as an asset – every disposal triggers a tax event. 'We do enable tax regimes because we are global… we've created a tax tool that allows individuals to reconcile buying and selling and basically calculate their own tax,' said Cooke. 'It's not a certificate per se, but it's one of the closest things you'll find at this point in time.' And while scams are a persistent risk, the blockchain never forgets: 'Once the crypto transaction takes place, you can't undo it. You can't remove it off the blockchain… Eventually you will get caught.' The conversation repeatedly returned to the need for education and inclusion. 'A lot of people have burnt their fingers in past hype cycles,' Vivier admitted. That's why responsible onboarding and community-building matter. For Cooke, the future isn't about crypto versus banks, but about co-existence. 'We're not here to compete with banks or M-Pesa,' he said. 'It's about interoperability. All technologies are embraced. All systems function together.' He points to mobile money's success in Kenya and explains why SA – with its robust banking infrastructure – hasn't seen the same adoption pattern. 'South Africans weren't desperate for a mobile solution like M-Pesa. But crypto can still be valuable in a strong financial system – especially when it offers new ways to move money or store value.' Volatility bites Of course, Bitcoin's volatility remains a sticking point. But Vivier argued that fiat currencies aren't much better – especially across Africa. 'The value of Bitcoin comes from its decentralised network and its rules. It's run without fail for 16 years.' Cooke agreed, adding: 'Fiat is just as volatile in some African countries. What we offer with crypto is transparency and immutability.' That transparency is also a double-edged sword. While the blockchain can expose fraud, it's also why CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) are raising red flags. 'CBDCs are a surveillance tool,' Vivier warned. 'They represent the final merger of money and state. With that control, governments can switch off protestors' bank accounts. That's dangerous.' 'This is why we're doing this series,' Schutters explained to viewers. 'Crypto isn't just a currency play – it's a community education project too.' 'Even I fall victim to concentrating too much on the investment asset side of Bitcoin, and forget to talk about the everyday-use case,' he confessed. One (big) question at a time 'Is crypto useful yet?' asks Schutters in conclusion. In short: yes, but it's still early days. Crypto is being used in Mossel Bay townships, at retail tills in Pick n Pay, and increasingly in online services and cross-border remittances. But broader adoption hinges on community education, smarter regulation and practical use cases. Both DM guests had advice for crypto newcomers. 'Ask questions,' Vivier urged. 'Don't feel stupid. This is a paradigm shift. Every person you onboard brings us closer.'
Daily Maverick
04-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Crypto, AI, plastics and dry taps — Daily Maverick's May round-up of #LiveJournalism
At Daily Maverick, our events and webinar department links public service journalism with audience engagement. We host webinars to deepen community connections, enhance understanding of key issues and bring stories to life through interactive experiences. We hosted six webinars in May, all of which can be found on our dedicated webinar platform or YouTube. Here's a peek of our latest live journalism webinars, the topics covered and key takeaways, just for you. To Crypto or Not To Crypto: A personal finance perspective We started this month with a Money Cents personal finance webinar, led by Neesa Moodley, editor of the Money Cents newsletter and Business Maverick. She was joined by her colleague, Lindsey Schutters, a Business Maverick journalist and editor of the Crypto Corner newsletter, to figure out how cryptocurrency fits into your personal investment portfolio. A cloud of scepticism around digital currency and Bitcoin was dissipated by Schutters's sobering sentiment that as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream, it needs to be taken more seriously. An audience member said the webinar was 'very insightful and addressed various important questions'. Watch the recording here Dumpster Dive: Where is our recycling going? As South Africa grapples with mounting waste and a struggling recycling system, tough questions are being asked about what really happens to the materials we toss in the bin. We followed Our Burning Planet journalist Kristin Engel in conversation with the founder and co-director of Waste-ED, Candice Mostert, and the acting CEO of the Waste Management Bureau in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Masopha Moshoeshoe. The audience learnt that only a small portion of the country's waste is actually recycled once it leaves the blue bin. One attendee said: ' The reality is that plastic is the number-one profit-making product of the fossil fuel industry. They're on record to double plastic production by 2040. Single-use won't end without bans.' Watch recording here Practical AI: Tools Worth Your Time (and how to use them) Sarah Hoek, Daily Maverick's audience development and community manager, sat down with Jeremy Caplan, director of teaching and learning at City University of New York and Wonder Tools newsletter editor, to explain how to make artificial intelligence work for you. The overarching message: AI is changing the world as we know it, just as the internet, social media and smartphones changed our approach to life. So, according to Jeremy, you might as well know how to use it, and use it well. One viewer said it was ' an hour well spent – will take up the challenge i.e. try something new each week'. Another said: 'For a person who has not wanted to give AI airtime, especially in my work as a lawyer, I'm convinced that it is not bad after all. Let me go check these out. Thank you.' Watch the recording here Decrypting Crypto: The building blocks of digital assets In a follow-up to the crypto personal finance webinar, Lindsey and the webinar team kicked off his three-part webinar series, Decrypting Crypto, featuring Christo de Wit, country manager at Luno, and Diketso Mashigo, head of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's licensing department. The big takeaway: research the product, know what you're buying into and understand the risks. 'Thank you to the presenters and Daily Maverick. A very necessary discussion, particularly for novice investors,' said one attendee. Watch the recording here Holding out for H₂O: Examining water loss in SA cities Across South Africa's cities communities are waking up to either a trickle from their taps – or no water at all – while treated water spills down streets from leaking pipes. In this webinar, Our Burning Planet journalist Julia Evans had a chat with Dr Ferrial Adam, executive director of WaterCAN, and Professor Mike Muller, former director-general of Department of Water Affairs and adjunct professor at the Wits School of Governance. They explained and reaffirmed much of what South Africans have come to realise on their own: that the country's water problems are complex and multifaceted. Moreover, it's not enough for civil society to keep playing watchdog – a concerted effort on infrastructure repair, municipal debt and reinvestment is necessary. Audience input: 'Besides supply of adequate quantities of water to all, the other discussion is management of quality of supply and sewage plant effluent.' 'Private sector generally struggles to manage provision of water to indigent users. Free water provision and the reticulation network to get to poorer residents is financially challenging.' 'Thank you for this even-handed and informative discussion. I have a much better insight on where the problems are.' Watch the recording here Single-use shake-up: Rethinking plastics and policy in South Africa Following the recycling webinar we noticed an appetite for a conversation focused solely on plastics. And, with the Global Plastics Treaty's goal to end plastic pollution by 2040, South Africa's position in the global initiative may be worth considering. Kristin Engel, joined by Dharmesh Shah, a senior campaigner of the treaty at the Center for International Environmental Law, alongside Johann Conradie, co-founder of Myplas and vice-chair of the South African Plastics Recycling Organisation, the implications of the treaty for big plastic producers in South Africa are arguably profound. The overall view from the audience? Extended producer responsibility regulations, which require plastic producers to reduce plastic packaging waste and fund recycling efforts, are essential and long overdue. 'I am Buyback Centre in Durban where I educated households to bring all their household products to us to buy as they were dumped into rivers. We need tough laws from government to charge all companies.' 'My entry is that government must enforce laws that make the manufacturer of plastic pay a green levy.'
Daily Maverick
02-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Bitcoin reaches fever pitch — but always know what you're buying, say experts
TikTok traders, crypto evangelists and Bitcoin havens paint a picture of quick wins and easy exits. On Daily Maverick's Decrypting Crypto webinar, experts reminded investors that volatility, risk and regulation are all part of the crypto package. At more than R1-million a coin, Bitcoin's latest bull run is once again flooding feeds with promises of overnight wealth. Amid the media noise, experts are stepping in, urging caution: don't buy into something you don't understand. That was the message at Daily Maverick's Decrypting Crypto webinar, hosted by senior journalist Lindsey Schutters, in conversation with Christo de Wit, country manager of Luno, and Diketso Mashigo, head of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's (FSCA's) licensing department. 'There's obviously a lot of clamour in the market,' Schutters said. 'Bitcoin is at an all-time high, it's a lot of money and everyone's trying to get in.' Don't invest in what you don't understand 'It is very important that people really get to understand what it is that they're buying into, what they're investing in and understand what the risks are,' Mashigo said. He stressed that the regulator expected authorised providers to actively educate their clients, especially when it came to a volatile asset such as crypto. While that may sound obvious, the crypto space is designed to move fast, often faster than many retail investors can realistically follow. Goals before gains 'When it comes to any kind of investment, whether it's crypto or not, it's important to have understanding and a very clear idea what your financial goals are, both short term and long term,' De Wit said. Crypto is notorious for its wild swings. Bitcoin itself has gone from R300,000 to R1-million, with some stomach-churning dips in between. 'Crypto is a higher risk asset class, and there is a lot of volatility,' De Wit said. Having a fundamental understanding of this was crucial in informing oneself when investing in crypto. Fractional ownership, full exposure A common crypto myth is that one needs to own a full coin to get started; an idea De Wit was quick to dispel. 'I think it's important for new-time investors to understand that you don't have to purchase an entire Bitcoin. You can purchase a fraction of it,' he explained. 'Even though Luno or the centralised exchange custodies it and keeps it in safekeeping, you have immediate access to further trade it, to withdraw it, to convert it back to rands, to convert it to other currencies.' The trick is choosing a credible licensed provider. 'Very carefully select your centralised exchange,' De Wit said. 'You can verify that on the FSCA website as well, to make sure that you know this is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that is licensed.' If your slice of the coin gains value, so does your investment. 'Any growth or loss, depending on what the market does, is related to the percentage that you hold,' De Wit said. Users can convert crypto to rands, transfer between wallets and even send Bitcoin to friends, which are growing trends in parts of the country. 'The whole Garden Route is becoming a crypto haven,' Schutters said. 'A lot of [people] are using stablecoins because they're just easier to transact with.' What does it mean to 'own' crypto? Ownership in the crypto space doesn't always look like traditional finance, but it follows similar principles, Mashigo explained. 'If I purchase a financial product, my ownership in that asset is represented somehow,' he said. 'And in this space, you can look at tokens. That, proportionately, is what I'm holding in that particular asset.' But how do you know that ownership is real and respected? De Wit pointed out a crucial consumer safeguard: proof of reserve. An important aspect to look out for is whether an exchange showcases proof of reserve, which is an audited report that validates that all consumer crypto currencies are exactly where the platforms say they are, he said. It's one of the most transparent ways users can confirm their holdings exist and they're not being lent out or siphoned off without consent. The three golden rules Mashingo broke down FSCA's consumer guidance into three pillars for anyone considering a crypto investment: Understand the product. Know exactly what you're buying, how it works and if it addresses your needs. Know the risks. Volatility, market swings and speculation are part of crypto's nature. Be ready to stomach the sudden drops. Verify the platform. 'Understand the party or the platform or the venue or the provider that you're dealing with, whether they're licensed or not,' said Mashigo. 'That's simple. You come through us. You check on our website, pop us an email, and we can confirm.' Growing regulation Mashigo made it clear that the FSCA was here to make sure that people knew what they were getting themselves into. 'We make sure that … certain basic things are in place,' said Mashigo and specified that businesses had to be contactable, transparent and authorised to do what they claimed. With crypto asset providers (CASPs) now being brought under formal licensing and regulatory oversight in South Africa, the hope is that consumer protection will continue to improve. DM
