2026-01-30 –, Machankura
We live in unsettling times. The global order is being reshaped at breakneck speed. Old certainties are being thrown overboard and many cherished and comforting delusions are not surviving contact with hard reality. Where is this journey taking us? And what's the role of Bitcoin in all this?
The world is currently being forced to shed some comfortable delusions and confront some hard truths. Among the most important is the delusion that talk is as good as action and that if you just wish for something hard enough you will get it – visualise something and you will manifest it. Or, in government language, legislate for it and it will happen.
It turns out that this is not true. The hard edges of the world are reasserting themselves - and Bitcoin could play a central role in the future that is now being shaped.
John Endres holds an MBA and a PhD in commerce and economics from a leading German
business school, as well as a Master’s degree in translation studies from the University of the
Witwatersrand. John has extensive work experience in business, policy research and project
management. He is the CEO of the IRR and the director of the Centre for Risk Analysis. The
IRR is a public policy think tank established in 1929 to promote human rights in South Africa.
The Centre for Risk Analysis was established in 2010 and advises on global and South African
political, economic, social, and policy risk. John has authored a book on change management in
cities and presents the CRA’s ‘Risk Alert’ – a written and audio note – every Monday morning at
7am.