Grocery retailer Pick n Pay to start accepting cryptocurrency payments

Pick n Pay said its latest pilot-tested Bitcoin payment service technology will let customers buy groceries with cryptocurrency.
Pick n Pay store now accepts Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency adoption is on the rise, with institutions turning to the benefits of using digital assets for payments. In South Africa, one major retailer has joined the trend: Pick n Pay, a well-known grocery chain in South Africa, has begun a pilot to accept bitcoin payments in-store at its headquarters location. The payments platform is offered by Electrum, a payment technology provider, while the Bitcoin payments infrastructure is provided by the bitcoin exchange Luno.

Pick n Pay trials Bitcoin payments

According to the business Pick n Pay, its Bitcoin payments pilot extends to 39 locations in South Africa’s major cities. In the upcoming months, it intends to expand to every one of its locations.

While cryptocurrency was only utilized by experts on their computers or early adopters testing it, things are now changing, according to Pick n Pay.

The retail behemoth asserts that the recent designation of cryptocurrencies by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority as a financial product opens the door for its acceptance as a commonplace payment method.

According to Pick n Pay, the transaction is as simple and secure as swiping a debit or credit card.

Customers agree on the Rand conversion rate on their smartphone at the moment of the transaction by scanning a QR code from the app.

It claims that there is a small service charge for each transaction, which costs, on average, 70 cents and completes in less than 30 seconds. Over the previous five months, Pick n Pay used pre-selected testers to run the pilot in ten Western Cape locations.

It includes Bitcoin Ekasi in Mossel Bay, which hired municipal vendors to accept Bitcoin as payment while paying trainers from the nonprofit organization The Surfer Kids with the digital currency.

Other companies, such as the web platform for sports bettors DraftKings, have been reported to explore possible participation in the crypto-market. This is due to a slight uptick in crypto adoption among various entities in the United States seeking to benefit from the industry.

South Africa’s adoption of bitcoin is increasing

Although 90% of transactions in South Africa are still cash-based, Luno said in April that “Bitcoin interest and adoption are taking off big time.”South Africa has seen a steady rise in bitcoin adoption, with major companies such as Pick n Pay offering the option to pay for groceries using digital currency. In addition, According to Finder’s Cryptocurrency Adoption Index report, four million South Africans own cryptocurrencies.

Only Nigeria, Bolivia, and Ghana are ahead of the nation in Google Trends’ list of countries with the most global searches related to bitcoin. “Bitcoin – Payment System” is the most searched-for topic. The pattern is growing progressively throughout South Africa.