Bitcoin Payments Coming to South Africa’s Largest Supermarket Chain: Report

Pick n Pay had been conducting crypto payment trials for a while.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 2 November 2022 14:41 IST

Bitcoin Payments Coming to South Africa’s Largest Supermarket Chain: Report

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ SWISS IM&H

On October 19, South Africa classified cryptocurrency assets as financial products

Highlights

Pick n Pay has tried Electrum and CryptoConvert for trial payments
Crypto payments at Pick n Pay will roll out widely in coming months
This development reiterates the exponential growth of crypto in S. Africa

The crypto climate in South Africa has been getting only warmer in recent months. In a new development, Pick n Pay, which is touted as the country's largest supermarket chain, is gearing up to open Bitcoin payments starting with 39 stores across the nation. The move, however, was not unexpected. Pick n Pay had been conducting crypto payment trials for a while before making sure that the large-scale roll-out of this feature would be in the right and profitable direction.

Once implemented, crypto holders will be able to scan a QR code from Pick n Buy and accept the conversion rate at the time of payment. Customers will also be allowed to use currently unnamed ‘trusted apps' to make crypto payments at the supermarket.

During its trials, Pick n Pay had chosen Electrum and CryptoConvert to enable testers to pay via the bitcoin lightning network, CoinTelegraph reported. The lightning protocol speeds up transactions on the Bitcoin network.

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Essentially, this is the extension of Pick n Pay's trials of crypto payments.

As per South Africa's news outlet Tech Central, the crypto payments feature will be rolled out more widely in the coming months.

This development reiterates the exponential growth of crypto in South Africa.

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The crypto market in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa together saw a growth of 1,200 percent, reaching a market valuation of $105.6 billion (roughly Rs. 775 crores) in one year, a report by Chainalysis claimed in September last year.

On October 19, South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) classified cryptocurrency assets as financial products.

As per Reuters The country has planned to regulate the growing fintech sector with licensing crypto trading companies and altering foreign exchange controls to monitor the cross-border crypto transactions.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Payments, South Africa

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More