After the first part of its pilot program to add Bitcoin as a payment option to additional stores was a success, one of South Africa’s biggest grocery retailers, Pick & Pay, announced on Tuesday that it is expanding it to more stores.
The declaration of crypto assets as a financial instrument in South Africa by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which allowed for their regulation and paved the door for cryptocurrencies to become a widely used payment method, came weeks prior to the announcement.
Read: South Africa will treat cryptocurrencies as financial goods.
“People who are underserved by traditional banking systems or those looking for a more affordable and practical means to trade money are using cryptocurrencies more and more.
As a result, many businesses now accept Bitcoin, according to a statement from Pick n Pay.
Over the previous five months, the retailer used pre-selected testers to run the first part of the trial at 10 stores in the Western Cape province. With the objective of implementing it throughout all stores in the upcoming months, it has now been expanded to an additional 29 stores for consumer testing.
On its most recent pilot, Pick n Pay collaborated with Electrum and CryptoConvert. The company claimed that Electrum’s payment platform links CryptoConvert and Pick n Pay, enabling clients to pay with Bitcoin Lightning technology at the till point.
