Technology

Big pussycat: Mew, a cat-themed memecoin, wants your love (and money).

The 6th edition of Comic Con: Africa was an eclectic experience. Tens of thousands streamed into the Johannesburg Expo Centre at Nasrec at the end of August, and the big brands were ready for them. Nintendo’s presence was massive. People were lining up at the main stand, which had row upon row of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles set up. The company even had a pop-up Nintendo store in the hall, which was nearly identical to the one in Sandton City. PlayStation and Xbox, however, were sadly nowhere to be seen. Checkers, Disney+ and Toys R Us were seriously impressive, size-wise, and you couldn’t miss the Geoffrey Giraffe mascot in the crowd. But that’s where things got a little weird. Just around the corner, Sea Harvest had larger-than-life dancing fish sticks and Kellogg’s had set up an interactive escape room experience with their own mascots, putting the snap, crackle and pop into pop culture, I guess. Axe was another brand out in full force, and if you missed the multisensory 360-degree projection space, someone would hand you a sample-sized deodorant.

I also came across Mew, a cat-themed meme coin built on the Solana blockchain, which made its blockchain debut last year. With so many dog-themed meme tokens, like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, it was now time for the cats. Mew is cute, like an anime cat, and the stand had a giant, inflatable mascot and a staggering amount of Mew themed swag that they were giving away. What I’d like to know is if anyone actually bought any crypto.