South Africa has taken one of its biggest steps yet toward mainstream crypto adoption. A new integration between MoneyBadger and Scan to Pay now allows shoppers to pay with Bitcoin and other digital currencies at hundreds of thousands of retail locations across the country.
Through this partnership, customers can now settle their bills at over 650,000 Scan to Pay merchants using digital assets held on popular exchanges such as Binance, Luno, VALR, and Blink. The process is simple: scan a QR code at checkout, confirm the transaction, and the merchant receives payment instantly – in South African rand, not crypto.
Behind the scenes, MoneyBadger’s payment rails connect users’ exchange accounts or Bitcoin Lightning wallets to facilitate the transfer, removing the need for traditional currency conversion. The system effectively turns any smartphone wallet into a direct payment tool for real-world purchases.
The End of “Hodling” Culture?
For years, South Africans treated Bitcoin mostly as an investment. Now, that’s starting to change. According to MoneyBadger CEO Carel van Wyk, the partnership represents a shift from hoarding to spending.
“People are beginning to realize that Bitcoin isn’t just a store of value – it’s money that works,” van Wyk said, adding that the number of local crypto payments has surged in recent months.
He’s long argued that real adoption depends on use, not speculation. “Bitcoin was created to be spent, not just saved,” he said, echoing the peer-to-peer ethos outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto’s original white paper.
Seamless Integration for Merchants
For businesses, the change is nearly invisible. Scan to Pay, which already dominates South Africa’s QR payment scene, integrates crypto payments without requiring merchants to overhaul their systems.
Theo Koma, product head at Scan to Pay, said the main goal is financial accessibility. “We’ve made it effortless for users to spend their crypto without converting it into cash first,” he said. “At the same time, merchants don’t need any extra setup to accept it.”
The partnership also connects Luno’s 30,000-strong merchant base with Scan to Pay’s national network, extending crypto acceptance to large retailers like Shoprite, Checkers, Makro, and Vodacom.
Crypto at the Checkout
With South Africa’s fintech ecosystem expanding rapidly, the integration could turn the country into one of the most crypto-friendly retail markets worldwide. Everyday crypto transactions – from groceries to phone bills – may soon be as normal as tapping a card.
And for a nation that’s long blended innovation with necessity, this could be the moment Bitcoin finally becomes what it was meant to be: money people actually use.
