Bitcoin Forum

South Africa's second-largest supermarket chain tested bitcoin payments earlier this year – but it doesn't plan to roll out the option to its stores anytime soon, according to its CEO.

Pick n Pay, which operates in a number of African countries as well as South Africa, piloted a payment system in partnership with startups Electrum and Luno. That initiative was limited to a staff cafeteria, CEO Richard van Rensburg told BusinessDay in an interview, and is no longer active.

As for when the supermarket chain might expand the option to an actual storefront, van Rensburg demurred, pointing to a difficult regulatory environment as the root cause for hesitation.

Courtesy: Coindesk

Soon it will become in regular usage SA cities. Even you can expect bitcoin will be adopted in Wall mart, AL-Ghurair and many more soon.

Pass your suggestions about the super markets need to accept the bitcoin according to your view.

That's a good news, with more countries and brand stores accepting bitcoin as payment. One such has happened in South Africa at present. Previously one of the largest retailer of Russia started accepting bitcoin. Hope the same will continue providing more circulation of bitcoin and make it more popular.

Those are some good news, because we definitely need some support from merchants. If people see that they can use bitcoins to buy goods, then they will start giving more value to bitcoin. As it becomes more desirable, it's price will increase. I think all of this will be much easier once the lightning network gets implemented, because the transactions will be faster, and the fees will be lower. You can already use crypto debit cards, but that is just a commode way of exchanging BTC to fiat, and what I would really like to see, is a way of actually spending BTC to directly acquire goods, and that the merchants would actually keep those coins and wouldn't only accept them in order to trade it for fiat. But that is something that will take many years for sure.

That is also again great information bro. Retailer should accept bitcoin. Few years before no one was know about Paypal in my city but some retailers start accept it then it is been popular to till laymen. These kind of moves will take bitcoin to moon very soon.

Bitcoin's future is dependent alot on its future utility which will give it an intrinsic value. Otherwise, Bitcoin will become a bubble in no time. I am glad many big merchants and companies are coming forward for accepting Bitcoin as a payment source. Japan is leading with almost all the vendors and merchants accepting Bitcoin. Now in South Africa supermarket started accepting. More the merchants start accepting Bitcoin, more people will get aware. These companies not only help in giving Bitcoin a better utility but also help in spreading awareness among people who don't have any idea about cryptocurrencies. Thus, attracting more investors towards cryptocurrencies.

We will all agree that it is a great news for everyone. Many countries are starting to adapt bitcoin already. Even the fresh news in the Philippines that BSP is already adapting and were open to the view of using bitcoin as mode of payment not just for bulky goods but for retails as well. If there will be more countries adapting bitcoin the price will also rise.

This is great news ! SA is doing these tests, and if they succeed I believe the net point might be regulating a bit bitcoin ( but that is too difficult). The main reason why this is a bit difficult in putting to work for a long time, it's because of the volatile nature of the coin. Once this gets stable( and it will take time), bitcoin will start getting used for almost everything in my oppinion

I appreciate it as well that companies try to enter the market of crapto currencies.
Even if they have not included bitcoin in their regular payment systems, it shows that they are aware that something has developed out there.
Bitcoin and the other currencies need to have some use in the every day life. To stay in the head of the people.
'Bitcoin accepted' signs are a good way to do that.

So you mean a South African Supermarket doesn't accept bitcoin, and probably won't in the near future?
Wow, thanks for this update!

Sometimes the fees are far to high for Bitcoin to be used as a currency anyway. And will they accept zero confirmation transactions? For online shopping it might be ok, but in store it won't work.

Well at least they tried. It's a good start that they actually considered it. It may not be soon enough but since they tested it, there's always the possibility that they'll implement it. And that's what's important. Might not push through, but at least people there have  now heard of bitcoins.

They have tested because they understand the potential of bitcoin and other altcoins but still many people does not aware of crypto coin and there is digital currency presence in the world. We need to wake them all up first and spread about bitcoin to society and make them understand.

in my view it must be brave to accept bitcoin as a means of payment at the supermarket, those who shop at ease to pay using this supersonic network , good news sir

I love the 'difficult regulatory environment' reason.   I've heard
that particular buzz phrase many times before.  It's good that
their cafeteria once accepted bitcoin but probably no one used
it.  No surprise there.  And businesses don't want cryto, they
want fiat.  All these payment processors convert bitcoin to
fiat immediately.   Bitcoin as a currency is doomed except for
on dark markets.

Nice. It is a good news for us since we know that South Africa is a good country with a suitable population. They  can make bitcoin greater due to many reasons. The people here are very smart and well-educated too. The more countries support bitcoin, the higher the price will be

There's no harm in trying so I guess its a brave moved on their part. Its like they are doing alpha testing itself and see how the market will react, if they see that there's a big possibility that it will benefit their customers as well as business wise, they will go with it. Otherwise it will still take years for merchants to really accept bitcoin as payment mode. Another positive things that can come out of this is that bitcoin will somehow gain traction among its customers so its gonna be a win win situation for both parties. Let's see how things work out in South Africa.

Also read the news saying that they are not planning to actually implement this in the short run, but it's definitely good to see that they did it, and that their consider it was quite a positive test. From what I read, they will not adopt BTC right now as a normal payment method, because crypto is still not regulated, and not because the test went wrong.
This proves that using BTC to buy goods is viable, and merchants are interested in doing it. So if they get regulated everything will work just fine.

Trends seem to flow from top to bottom. If they implement this to attract the few people who do use bitcoins, then it might catch on with the general public.

Of course for it to make good business sense, there must be enough users to be worth spending on this (like how really small business don't have credit card terminals and only accept cash).

Please stop posting tose information because they made me realise how Backwardness we're !
Because my country needs more than houndread years to have such supermarket, and even it happens, it won't success because we are part of the third world.

Maybe those are false news, but it would be amazing to see bitcoin in supermarkets, or just be able to pay directly with your wallet, it would be a very good idea to develop. But it is easy to do the same with btc's debit card, so i dont think we are still far away from that idea.
Anyways, it is good to see this kind of news

This is very good news. Such great marketplaces have really big community related with them and they will start spreading the word even more about Bitcoin and starting using it. Many merchants will start dealing with Bitcoin as well and bitcoin's community will grow up

Adoption of this great technology in different countries is a big contribution towards bitcoin as it spread to all over the world. Not only for the big countries but it also in small countries as they partake this kind of generation. This is big chance for the people of Africa to enjoy their life with bitcoin, to experience like the other countries did.

It is totally a great information for everyone and investors to put there money into bitcoin for long term investment.
As more countries coming on bitcoin world probably it could be a stepping stone towards its goal as become a new currency that is widely used by the people. Not for online only but it could be happen in local transactions in any establishment.

Yes, people in South Africa could easily to spend bitcoin and purchase some goods, it can be implemented as supported from electrum and luno exchange. Since bitcoin rice always fluctuate, a supermarket need third party to make sure every bitcoin transaction could be converted into fiat currency immediately to prevent a big loss if bitcoin price decline significantly.
Whenever bitcoin price increase mean; people will doubt to spend their bitcoin as the value is growing, but if the price declining; it's a loss for merchants/stores/supermarket to accept bitcoin payment. Bitcoin volatility is double edge sword.

How they are accepting the Bitcoin payments? I don't think that they will be OK with direct Bitcoin payments, as it takes 30-40 minutes to get the necessary 3 conformations. So the only option is to use a third party processor such as Bitpay or Coinbase.

Although I don't use my BTC to spend on daily expenses, I think that this would be convenient for the bitcoin users in South Africa when a day comes that they do not have cash to spare. If this were to be true, then this must mean that there are many bitcoin users in that area for an adoption like this to take place. Other countries have been taking various steps on adoption lately.

I guess that using those third party might be expensive much for that,  because of the fee charges when payments will be processed. It's not a bad idea of waiting for that less than an hour, maybe we have the options to wait further or must make and advance payment transactions. Those people should be able to adopt the current system that really involved time as well.

That's really a great news.Previously,russian largest retailer giant Ulmart started accepting bitcoins.The field of retail markets is a highly competitive field and they offer new facilities to attract customers.Bitoin being getting more popular nowadays,super market chains have realized that they could not avoid bitcoin any more and they try to become pioneer in accepting bitcoin payments.Definitely,its another progress in recognizing bitcoin.More people who have not yet known bitcoin would also start knowing about it by seeing such offers.

Good news, testing is needed everywhere not only in South Africa. Now this is not a country where there is a lot of money, but the beginning for Africa is laid. The next market will start in Latin America, continue to popularize the crypto currency.

A lot of business have considered the potential in bitcoin but all they do is to give false hope without either not having a road map to its implementation or not putting a date to when they want to start. And the reason is not far fetched, let government gives approval for this even as alternative currency, every company will fall in line but until we see that, everything else is speculation.

Step by step bitcoin will really reach every establishment that is selling their services in the world it is just a matter of time until it will happen. It is quite ironic that South Africa is recognizing the potential of Bitcoin and already uses it as a legal tender to their super market there I hope that it will be a nationwide implementation so that other neighbor countries will follow this king of actions.

I can't really imagine what will happen to the price of bitcoin if all of the biggest and well known super market will really recognize it as a payment to their product, maybe one day the price of a single bitcoin will reach a million, who knows.

Can you post the link of this news? I'm not familiar with Pick N Pay since I don't live in South Africa but this is a good news for us as they are now trying bitcoin payments for their business. Once it will be now implemented in the whole South Africa region then this will have a big impact in bitcoin. I guess they are also testing the blockchain technology as it's a very promising network for their business.

This is great! .even if still on test pace.this is a good start that will surely give a good sight for every company wanted to adapt bitcoin as payment method.
Does Data and statistic that will be collected can make a huge contribution to make a further study and consider the option to make it on regular basis. I hope it will keep on going and make the operation officially adapt.

Me too. But anyways its good to hear that they are slowly adopting bitcoin as for payment, and since it has already started hopefully it will continue more further, hope there is no interruptions in that progress. Considering South Africa accepting bitcoin as payment is really  a huge update.

I would also like to see some links for this, South Africa is big country and how can super market start to accept bitcoins if government didn't legalize bitcoin? There is laws and regulations, I think that this decision about bitcoin acceptance is not supermarket and their CEOs. I would like bitcoin to be present everywhere, but we can't rush with some things and after many news here on forum I'm looking for more proofs.
One more thing is bothering me, South Africa wasn't so active in past few years on bitcoin stage, I mean nothing special from them or I'm missing something here. Just one more country like many others, bitcoin didn't have some spacial treatment there as I know.

This is a good news, We may have a long way to the Mainstream and Global acceptance of Bitcoin, with these steps we can totally create stepping stones for bitcoin's great future. But honestly, In my opinion, despite of this good news one of the problem that may encounter is the volatility of bitcoin and i think the prices should really change based on what the real time price of bitcoin.

It is kind of funny to see China imposing lots of rules and regulations and maybe even ban on bitcoin, but other countries are trying to accept bitcoin more and encourage their citizens to spend bitcoin in their daily life. It is good to see more and more countries accepting bitcoin as this will surely help bitcoin usage volume to grow in the future.

Nice to hear that. Hope other country accepting bitcoin, its so glad to be the part of that. Hope in phillippines accepting bitcoin already to be legal, very glad to be part of this .

This is expected because we all know that bitcoin is rocking all of the investors mind. also this cryptocurrency is like a gold wait more than gold, 6000$ before the year ends for sure. invest now and earned later :)

But that just give a little impact to the crypto because the africa was having a little value, i mean in the economic comparing with the EU country or even the US and China market.

I think that Bitcoin being accepted to South africa is a cery good thing it can at least in a way save the landscape of what china has done to erase bitcoin with its banning and closing of borders. And also this might be a stepping stone for other countries to start looking at bitcoin.

As you rightly pointed out in Africa have their own payment system. They already use their mobile phones as wallets or credit cards. It was probably just a test and nothing more. I think each state will try to make my own e-currency and will never accept bitcoin.

This will defeat the purpose of bitcoin as a larger acceptance worldwide if every country either introduces their own coin and accepts that only as a payment this means in coming time bitcoin will not be used much and its value will only decline over a period of time if this starts to happen.

That's a good news although it's only testing but we are surely in the right direction in term of mass adoption.
Even a little impact will help, maybe other countries will see how it goes in Africa then implement it on their country.

It is very good that more and more people trust him and start accepting him as a payment. I think soon in our country, too, you can pay for purchases using bitcoin.

This is such a misleading title I don't know why you started it. Only to gain attention?

FIRST.
From your own post.
"That initiative was limited to a staff cafeteria".

The supermarket has never accepted bitcoin payments. The internal cafeteria is something else.

SECOND.
From your own post.
"but it doesn't plan to roll out the option to its stores anytime soon"
So they don't plan on accepting bitcoin payments.

Why did you even start this topic?

There is still no final result for their test with bitcoin transactions but let's be optimistic with this thing as bitcoin will surely be adopted by the South African countries. It will also be an attractive word for the citizens there if they'll know that bitcoin can make them rich. But as of now, this is just about the adoption and the progress of bitcoin for the business of Pick n Pay. Waiting for a positive result.

Receiving Bitcoin as one way of payment in our business, can be a solid marketing and promising at this time. It is predicted to make way for we in the face of competitors and improve our business performance.
Speaking of marketing strategies, it is now important for think ahead, and get to know the potential of Bitcoin and put it into our business payment system.

Embracing the power of new technologies, such as Bitcoin, will show customers about the prospects that we are always following the big things in the business world and today's technological advancements. The industry that run by receiving Bitcoin, could have put in a more successful position.

Very happy to hear this news, I hope more and more supermarkets are receiving bitcoin directly so bitcoin users in South Africa all countries can get real benefits, I hope this can happen in my city soon.

Well I agree I think thats the reason why Bitcoin is not banned here in the Philippines , Government see bitcoin ad one of the greatest contributor in near future in which can change our economic state by being one of the currency that is being use in near future , and it eill help bitcoin as well and all of the forum user to gain higher amount of profit.

Many companies allowed bitcoin because bitcoin is future currency and it will break many records of other currencies because a single bitcoin can reduce poverty and make you rich therefore companies allowing bitcoin as payment method.

Probably just quoting from a news source but yes the source itself was misleading, and I saw an article already clarifying it. The supermarket owners must have somewhat panicked when all the headlines screamed "accepting" in a regime where Bitcoin is still viewed by the central bank with a lot of deep suspicions. The acceptable way since 2014 (even with Standard Bank) is to "trial" Bitcoin. And I believe what the news somewhat leaked is that Pick n Pay is one of those in the limited trial group that the central bank recently started.

This is a very lovely news. If we start seeing so many merchants accepting bitcoin soon, we may start sighting the moon anytime soon. Over time as people keep getting aware and as transactions keep multiplying, I believe merchants will find a way to most definitely incorporate bitcoin into their payment system.

Good news like this will also make users of such stores understand the value of bitcoin and why they should have some. However, I hope the fee won't be a major issue with that playing out.

That's great news and also good news for the cryto world. The more countries that are accepting Bitcoin the better the investment because the farther and bigger its circulation will be. And more investors would be able to know Bitcoin also all over the world.