A tale of cryptos, kidnapping and ransom, and why Stratum refuses to hand over customer information

Loading player...

Stratum founder and CEO Rocela Lopes delves into the 2018 kidnapping of his wife, with a demand for $50 million ransom, after loose talk from a bank clerk ended up in the wrong ears. It's one of the reasons why Stratum refuses to hand over customer information to anyone - including regulators and tax officials.

8 Jun 2021 English South Africa Tech News · Investing

Other recent episodes

There’s a perfect storm ahead for the rand and bitcoin

Tariff wars and gold at an all-time high have rattled financial markets. This could push the rand to R22.25 to the dollar and bitcoin to $65 000, says Shiven Moodley, macro strategist at 80eight.

16 Apr 27 min

Regulatory overload could stifle crypto boom

Brent Petersen, chair of the Crypto Asset Association of SA, explains how new regulations piled on top of the recently completed licensing process could throttle growth for some firms just beginning to find their feet. And what we've learnt about the crypto industry in the last five years.

9 Apr 28 min

Why small is beautiful when it comes to crypto

Henco Vorstman, CEO of ChainEx, one of the smaller exchanges in SA, explains why investors and traders often prefer a small exchange – low fees, good arbitrage opportunities, and personal service to name a few. And how the banks remain inexplicably hostile to crypto.

2 Apr 28 min

What's blockchain got to do with a R60bn class action suit against the banks?

Hundreds of homebuyers are taking the banks to court for repossessing their homes and selling them for a fraction of their worth. Advocate Douglas Shaw explains how the repossession crisis in SA came about and how blockchain could solve this.

26 Mar 32 min

Crypto heists, blockchain sleuths, and turning surplus power into bitcoin

The world’s second-largest crypto exchange, Bybit, was hit by a massive hack attack in February, where thieves from North Korea made off with nearly $1.5bn in ethereum. Carel de Jager, research group leader at the CSIR, has been on the trail of the stolen funds and tells us what he…

19 Mar 29 min

All episodes