Pick n Pay has partnered with CryptoQR to accept bitcoins in more than 2,000 stores.
Pick n Pay, a South African retailer, has started accepting bitcoins for payment in all its stores. Previously, a test pilot had been launched to 39 stores in November 2022. Now, all stores under the Pick n Pay brand will allow customers to use CryptoQR to buy groceries using bitcoin, according to a announcement by the payment platform on Twitter.
Customers will also be able to “buy airtime and electricity, plane and bus tickets, and pay municipal bills with Bitcoin in up to!” according to the tweet.
Increasing usage in larger retailers like Pick n Pay introduced the concept of spending bitcoins instead of selling them for use for new bitcoin users. By allowing people to spend BTC, the line between setting aside money for bitcoin and just using bitcoin because it’s your money is blurred. The previous pilot launch noted that Pick n Pay will charge a small service fee for payments in BTC, an “average customer price of 70c” of the local currency, or about $0.04 by November 2022.
Pick n Pay has almost 2,000 stores across the country, Business Insider South Africa reported. The company has a 16% market share of the country’s official food and grocery sector, according to the report.
The introduction of bitcoin to Pick n Pay stores is likely to have a significant impact on the broader bitcoin payment landscape in South Africa. It can bring the concept of using bitcoin as a form of payment to a wider audience, which can stimulate wider adoption of bitcoin usage. Furthermore, it could inspire other major retailers to follow suit, increasing the acceptance and use of bitcoin as a payment method. This could be a major step in the wider adoption of bitcoin payments.