Bitcoin, blue light brigades and Black November
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Hello and welcome to the weekend.
For some, it starts straight after Halloween. For others, it’s school exam season. Or perhaps it's the sounds of Mariah Carey and Boney M, and the sight of mince pies at the supermarket entrance. But I think Black Friday is the real bellwether that we’re on the home straight heading to the December holidays and festive season. Given its status in our annual calendars, it’s strange to think that Black Friday has only really been a thing in South Africa for the past decade. Takealot trialed the concept in 2012, and a couple of years later it hit the national consciousness when Checkers had queues snaking out of the doors. But since those early days, boy have we adopted it with open arms! It’s grown from being just one Friday per year, to covering the whole weekend as well as Cyber Monday; I’ve even seen some retailers referring to Black November specials.
If your inbox isn’t creaking at the seams with Black Friday offers, then it’s much better cared for than mine. This year, Black Friday falls on 29 November, just four days after payday, so by the time I write to you again, we’ll truly be in the midst of it all. Hopefully BankServ’s systems hold up better than Netflix’s did during the Mike Tyson v Jake Paul face-off last weekend.
With all this commercial frenzy ahead, I share with you these words of caution. The first comes from cybersecurity vendors, who are warning online shoppers to take care when clicking on offers from emails and social media. And the second piece of advice is from my late father who always told me ‘no matter how cheap it is, a bargain isn’t a bargain unless you really need it’; he was always quick to point out the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’ too.
But who am I to tell you how to spend your money? For all I know, you could be sitting on a stash of Bitcoin, which is currently frolicking at record highs. In previous crypto booms, crypto bros were all over social media showing off their new Lamborghinis thanks to their canny (or speculative) investments. This time around it’s not about cars, but rather houses, sort of; did you know you can now actually buy property directly with crypto?
As well as buying property with digital money, another sign that we’re living in the future is electric vehicles. While they’ve yet to really take off locally, and that’s probably down to high import duties and a long-term lack of faith in Eskom, one MP is calling on government to be the trendsetter.
Science, technology and innovation committee chairperson Tsakani Shiviti said: “It is ideal that as a government, we do not introduce all these innovations that we will not test ourselves. Government is big; we should start there and disrupt the market.”
As I sat in traffic the other day waiting for a blue light convoy of luxury SUVs to pass by, it did cross my mind, that if you want to grow the market for particular vehicles you need to make them aspirational, and government convoys would be a great place to start showing off EVs, although you’re less likely to hear them coming. But I’ve also often thought that ministers should be driven only in cars made in the country. Talking of which, VW’s Kariega plant in the Eastern Cape has just doubled its output of renewable energy by adding 3MW of solar power. Well done to them.
The last story of the week is also from the Eastern Cape, where a local taxi association is pioneering an MVNO telecoms service. Apparently, its deals will be available in the new year with the goal to make mobile connectivity accessible and affordable. Called WOW, it’s an acronym that stands for ‘Wealth on Wheels’. I usually think ‘wow’ when I see taxis on the road, but for very different reasons; often as they stare down oncoming traffic from the wrong side of the road.
Until next time...
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