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Daily Maverick
08-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Crypto Corner: Crypto can play a role in the virtual and physical property game
Cryptocurrency is increasingly moving into the real world with even the US Federal Housing Finance Agency considering crypto in deciding whether someone has enough assets to qualify for a home loan. A recent conversation with a game developer about his exploits in the metaverse revealed something to me that I had never quite understood. You see, like most rational adults, I couldn't understand how and why people would spend money on virtual property. There's infinite supply because the developers can just make more space, right? Apparently not. When you're buying virtual property, you're actually buying compute capacity (or computing power) on a server somewhere, and that costs money. Your NFT is like your house key – and GPS coordinates to let that particular part of the internet know where it is (the interplay between the internet and private blockchains is complex, but I digress). This transaction is also done via the crypto token associated with that blockchain, which is Solana in this particular case. What is concerning is that the developer quickly swaps to a stablecoin and then moves to an exchange to cash out – because some bills can't be paid with crypto, yet. Meanwhile, in the meatspace (that's what early metaverse enthusiasts called the physical world), the US Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering cryptocurrency when deciding whether someone has enough assets to qualify for a home loan. So if someone owns R1-million in bitcoin held on Binance, for instance, that might help boost their application. Why is it considering this? Because the housing market is struggling under high interest rates and including crypto could help more people qualify for loans. It also aligns with a Trump administration push to make the US a global leader in crypto innovation. This is also exactly the kind of thing that is quite catchy for emerging economies that are looking to capitalise on the crypto momentum. If the idea spreads here, I wonder if that game developer's crypto earnings could be used to secure a traditional home loan. He could then systematically convert his virtual property gains into rands to pay off the real-world property debt. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Daily Maverick
23-06-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Embracing ageing — growing older should be a privilege, not a burden
It's been eight years since I officially belonged in the 'youth' category. I am often reminded of this when I see adverts for group travel, study opportunities or discounts on subscriptions for young people, but also when I'm mistaken for being younger than I am. (On a side note, doesn't it seem as if there are no special opportunities or discounts for people not classified as either young or of pensionable age?) More often than not, we want to be considered young or strive to remain young beyond our years because it is a time in our lives that society covets. You are at your peak vitality and the world is unfolding at your feet for you to discover and enjoy. Youth is associated with a state of wonder and unfettered carefreeness, so none of these assertions is altogether untrue. Reflecting on being young and ageing, one of my favourite writers and activists, Maya Angelou, offers insight in a quote from her book of essays, Letter to My Daughter: 'I am convinced that most people do not grow up. We find parking spaces and honour our credit cards. We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. 'I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry the accumulation of years in our bodies and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are still innocent and shy as magnolias. We may act sophisticated and worldly, but I believe we feel safest when we go inside ourselves and find home, a place where we belong and maybe the only place we really do.' I take Angelou's point in this regard because I do not have any grudges against ageing. I see it only as a marker of time and a collection of experiences and memories that helps to shape the person you are and guide you through the world. It is my position that being a certain age is not more enviable than the next in that it plays equal parts in informing who you are and enhancing your world view. This sets up my next point, illustrated quite aptly by author Mark Twain, who said: 'Do not complain about growing old. It is a privilege denied to many.' Wise words indeed as we make our way through a world that would have us deny our years and sometimes even makes us feel ashamed that we no longer qualify for the youth category. Being able to experience life in its fullness is indeed a privilege. It is worth noting that the world can often be quite dismissive and cruel to those considered to be old or older, as if it is a mortal sin. It is wrong to look at youth and middle age and old age as competing parts of ourselves. To do so is to deny ourselves the beauty and learning of each stage. There is much to be appreciated about the vitality, restlessness and wonder of being young. But equally so, entering the autumn of one's life brings with it a sense of soberness and quiet that reflects a natural progression towards a sageness that awaits. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Daily Maverick
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Havoc on Netflix: Gritty action can't save this overloaded crime thriller
Gareth Evans, director of The Raid, teams up with Tom Hardy for this ultra-violent and relentlessly gory movie that should satisfy fans of Hong Kong-style action cinema, but will probably leave the rest of the audience beaten into submission. Set in a particularly grimy yet artificial-looking American city, Havoc gathers crime thriller clichés to build a scaffold on which to hang its admittedly inventive action sequences. Hardy plays homicide cop Walker, a once decent tough guy who has become disillusioned while carrying a terrible secret he would like to forget. Like all world-weary cops, Walker is estranged from his wife and daughter, but sees a way to redeem himself when he becomes involved in a high-stakes conflict between an ice-cold crime boss, Little Sister (Yeo Yann Yann), out to avenge the murder of her son; petty thieves Charlie (Justin Cornwell) and Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), who Little Sister thinks are responsible for her son's death; and Walker's old squad members led by Vincent (Timothy Olyphant), who are also out to get Charlie and Mia for putting a colleague in the hospital while trying to escape the cops with a truck full of cocaine. Walker is in the pay of corrupt mayoral candidate Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker), who knows his dark secret. After recognising Charlie as Beaumont's son in CCTV footage, Walker sees a chance to get the politician off his back: he offers to find and save Charlie from all the murderous factions on his tail in exchange for Beaumont agreeing to stop blackmailing him. As if that weren't enough to be getting on with, Walker is also saddled with a young, idealistic rookie cop, Ellie (Shadow and Bone's Jessie Mei Li), who in one of the film's few fresh twists, proves to be resourceful and more than capable of holding her own. Hardy ably carries the drama and action on his shoulders, but his character's motivation for getting involved in this extremely dangerous mess aren't convincing. Perhaps if Charlie had been Walker's son, it would have made sense for him to go to such extremes to save him, but the promise of escaping Beaumont's vaguely threatening hold doesn't seem enticing to someone as morally corrupt as Walker, who's already lost everyone he holds dear. Whitaker wildly overacts as if he's in a Shakespearean tragedy, in contrast to Yeo, who knows just how much melodrama to inject into her emotionally devastated yet hard-as-nails gangster. Justified star Olyphant merely looks pained to be there, though younger actors Cornwell and Sepulveda fare better, making the audience believe in their desperation. The slow build-up with only short bursts of violence do count in the movie's favour, creating some tension and preventing the action from reaching saturation point too soon. Unfortunately Havoc then descends into a bloodbath that loses its impact, leaving the viewer exhausted instead of exhilarated. Havoc is on Netflix now. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
