Browsing: In-depth

Facebook’s plan for a new cryptocurrency has the potential to change entire industries. A more likely outcome is that the technology transforms the social media giant’s own business.

Much of the commentary about Facebook’s proposed libra coin has focused on its defects as a cryptocurrency. It’s more interesting to examine the process for creating libra rather than specific technical features.

5G networks will allow vast gobs of data to be transmitted at great speeds. And more data usually means more money for mobile carriers. But there’s a hitch. Cloud giants such as Amazon.com and Microsoft are lurking.

Rarely does an audience Q&A session include a question as incendiary as, “Why is this fraud allowed to speak at this conference?” But that’s how a discussion about bitcoin ended up last year in Seoul.

South Africa simply has to rescue the nation’s distressed power utility. Even though it can’t afford to.

Facebook hopes its new cryptocurrency will one day trade on a global scale much like the US dollar. But to come anywhere close to matching the dollar for utility and acceptance, Libra will need to be widely trusted.

As Huawei comes under unrelenting pressure from the Trump administration, it has one advantage that the US can’t undermine: a vast, global portfolio of patents on critical technology.

Naspers’s R2.4-billion takeover of Turkish online payment firm Iyzico consolidates its presences in one of the most dynamic e-commerce markets in the developing world.

This year’s top-performing cryptocurrency is up almost fourfold and you’ve likely never heard of it.

If there is to be a Cold War 2.0, it’s set to be radically different from the original, with any new “digital Iron Curtain” looking more like spaghetti than iron.