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Daily Maverick
6 days ago
- 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
18-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
To crypto or not to crypto — a personal finance perspective
From Pick n Pay to Trump, cryptocurrency is edging further into the mainstream, promising freedom from banks, big returns… and big risks. The question is: should it play a role in your personal finances? In a recent Money Cents webinar, Business Maverick editor Neesa Moodley chatted to senior journalist Lindsey Schutters to address the question that won't go away: how does Bitcoin fit in your investment portfolio, and what do you need to know? In 2014, Bitcoin made a fleeting appearance on South African airwaves. By 2016, you could buy a single bitcoin for R2,500 to R3,500. A decade later, amid global inflation shocks, rising interest rates and serial collapses in public trust, it now fetches nearly R1-million – and still evokes the same cocktail of suspicion, confusion and that nagging fear that the train has already left the station. A sceptic's conversion 'If you'd asked me five years ago, I would've said: crypto? No way. I'm not touching it with a bargepole,' Moodley stated as the webinar began. Yet, as crypto coins have become increasingly mainstream and accepted, and the maturation of certain coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have increased, it could well be time to start looking more seriously at crypto. Bitcoin's decoupling Until recently, Bitcoin looked a lot like a glorified tech stock that often closely tracked the Nasdaq, while its volatility swung with every Fed rate announcement, with actual use cases still appearing more ideological than functional. That changed this year. 'We had a big tech stock drop recently,' Schutters noted. 'And while all those dropped, Bitcoin actually went up.' For Schutters, that's more than noise. It may mark Bitcoin's decoupling from tech equities – making it a viable hedge, rather than just a speculative bet. 'Smart investors spread their money across different things,' he explained. The key to diversification is being invested in assets that don't move in the same direction – so when other assets are crashing and Bitcoin is rising – that could help to keep your investment portfolio stable. Hedging your bets To be clear: no one's suggesting Bitcoin replace your retirement fund.'Think of it like gold,' Schutters advised. 'It should be a discretionary investment, rather than part of your core investment portfolio.' Bitcoin's core strength isn't yield – it's scarcity. Only 21 million coins will ever be issued. Every four years, the reward for 'mining' new coins is halved. The most recent halving occurred in April 2024, cutting the per-block reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. As more computing power is required to generate fewer coins, mining costs – and arguably, Bitcoin's price floor – rise accordingly. 'Bitcoin is deeply linked to energy,' Schutters explained. 'As it gets harder to create, and you have to spend more, it becomes more valuable per se.' How and where to actually buy it For South Africans, buying crypto still means navigating a dense web of apps, wallets and custodial risk. Schutters doesn't recommend Bitcoin ETFs or derivatives. 'That's trading on crypto – not actually interfacing with it.' If you are investing in crypto for the first time, you can start with local, FSCA-compliant exchanges such as Luno, VALR, or Binance. Each allows you to convert rands into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly. Choosing an exchange is only half the picture – you also need to understand wallets – digital accounts that store your coins. Hot wallets are connected to the internet (convenient, but vulnerable). Cold wallets – such as USB hardware devices – are offline and far safer, but only if you don't lose your password. 'There is no 'forgot password' option,' Schutters warned. 'If you lose your keys, that Bitcoin is gone.' He cited the now-notorious case of James Howells in the UK, who lost access to more than $760-million in bitcoin after his hard drive was thrown away. Still, beware the snake oil For every legitimate crypto offering, there are dozens of scams.'There's a cottage industry of day-trading meme coins now,' Schutters said. The FTX scandal is only the most infamous recent example. The exchange's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted of fraud in 2023 for misappropriating billions in customer funds, many of whom believed their coins were safely in custody. Schutters' recommendation is to rather stick to Bitcoin. Avoid flashy altcoins unless you know what you're doing. 'Especially if you're just starting out.' Taxes, fees and real-world use Crypto may be borderless, but it's not invisible. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) treats crypto as an intangible asset; this means all disposals – including trades, conversions, or off-ramping into rands – trigger taxable events. Traders or individuals who frequently buy and sell crypto for short-term gains are taxed on their profits as regular income. Investors holding crypto for long-term appreciation are subject to capital gains tax, which is lower, but only applies to 40% of the gain (less your annual CGT exemption). Transaction costs are another blind spot. Luno and VALR charge around 1.4% for instant EFTs, while card deposits can reach 3.9%. Binance has similarly tiered fees. 'What you see in your wallet isn't what you'll get,' Schutters said. 'A good rule of thumb is to skim 3% off for costs.' Yet crypto is slowly becoming spendable. Pick n Pay now accepts bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network, a Layer 2 protocol that allows for fast retail transactions without congesting the main blockchain. 'It's kind of like tap-to-pay,' Schutters noted, though volatility still makes crypto an imperfect payment tool. Many merchants opt to settle in stablecoins like USDC, which are pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar. Trump, strategic reserves and centralisation Towards the end of the webinar, Moodley raised the global curveball: Donald Trump's plan to create a 'crypto strategic reserve' for the US, comprising stablecoins and potentially Bitcoin. Schutters didn't mince his words. 'If institutions or governments control too much, it defeats the founding principles of crypto,' he said. 'You'd need more than 50% of the mining power to make changes to the blockchain – and that's the danger of centralised accumulation.' The irony? A technology built to prevent systemic dominance could still end up captured by it. 'I'm committed to telling a balanced narrative so people are informed enough to make their own decisions,' said Schutters in closing. In an ecosystem dominated by hype, misinformation and empty promises, that alone might be the rarest currency of all. DM
Daily Maverick
08-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
How to outsmart rising subscriptions so they don't break the bank
It pays to get on top of them before they blow your budget. I'm used to my annual Microsoft 365 Family subscription increasing by a nominal amount each year, but the 33% increase this year was a bit of a shocker. That's when I tapped into the genius of my loyal Money Cents readers – and found an alternative for just R1,199. According to the Discovery SpendTrend 2025 report, AI subscriptions saw the highest growth in share of spend, growing more than three times in 2024 compared with the previous year. Discovery Bank chief executive Hylton Kallner points out that the bank offers a subscription management feature that allows users to manage card links to subscriptions and services. 'This includes creating and managing virtual cards, viewing transactions grouped by card or device and suspending or deleting card links no longer needed. Users can also manage where their card information is stored digitally by merchants,' Kallner told me after reading last week's Money Cents newsletter. How to access the feature Log in to the Discovery Bank app. Select the 'cards' option and tap on 'digital cards'. Choose the digital card you want to view and then scroll to view all linked subscriptions and transactions. From there you can tap on a specific subscription to either suspend or delete it, managing your recurring payment. Lineshree Reddy, country manager for Visa South Africa, said there had been increasing take-up of e-commerce subscriptions such as TakealotMORE. 'Our research [the Discovery SpendTrend 2025] shows that 62% of South Africans subscribe to three or more streaming services, and 29% of South Africans are willing to pay for subscription services that offer discounts or exclusive offers,' she said. Examples of typical offers or services could include next-day delivery and early access to offers such as Black Friday sales. With the growth in subscriptions, Reddy said Visa had looked at ways to enable consumers to have a single view of payments across various merchants and where they are making payments. 'For example, kids today can subscribe to games on devices. The Visa subscription manager gives you a full view of where those transactions are happening and you have the ability to stop recurring payments,' she said. Here are five ways to manage your subscriptions, regardless of which bank you're with: Keep track: Go through your bills from the past six months or even as far back as a year, making a note of the subscriptions you are being charged for and the amounts. Make a note of this in your monthly budget and keep track as payments are debited. Look at the bigger picture: The monthly subscription that is 'just R50 a month' works out to R600 a year and if you have four subscriptions of that amount, that's R2,400 a year. It adds up faster than you can blink. Re-evaluate monthly: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Showmax, DStv… You are spoilt for choice in terms of streaming subscriptions, but the beauty of these is you can cancel them and resubscribe at a moment's notice. Plan which series or shows you want to watch and unsubscribe from the services you are not using each month. Watch out for auto-renewals: Visit the sites you are subscribed to and uncheck 'automatic renewal' under payment options. Bundle it or share it: In this financial environment, sharing is caring. Consider sharing subscriptions with a friend or sibling. For example, one of you pays for Press Reader and the other for DStv. You get both benefits at a reduced cost. What you said Money Cents readers shared the following advice: Colleen said she contacted service providers to negotiate the annual increases. Gavin had interesting feedback: he makes monthly payments into a separate savings account, which then covers annual costs such as his motor vehicle licence, vehicle service, holiday club contribution and TV licence. 'The transfer is made early in the month so I'm only really aware of the remaining balance within which to handle normal monthly living costs. On the due date the funds are readily available,' he said. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
