South African Retail Giant “Pick N Pay” Now Accepts Bitcoin in all of its 1,628 Stores

The development comes three months after the retailer announced that it was already testing out Bitcoin payments at 39 designated outlets.

Pick N Pay, a leading South African grocery retail giant, has started accepting Bitcoin and lightning payments at all its 1,628 outlets. The development comes three months after the retail business disclosed that it was extending its Bitcoin payment testing phase to 39 designated outlets across the country.

Crypto-focused media news outlet Bitcoin Magazine called attention to the move through its official Twitter handle.

BREAKING: 🇿🇦 One of South Africa’s largest retailers, Pick n Pay, now officially accepts #Bitcoin and Lightning payments in ALL of its over 1,500 stores 🙌

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) February 1, 2023

The company has not provided ample information on the development as of press time, so there is limited knowledge of any changes, if any, they might have made on the modus operandi from the pilot phase announced in November 2022.

Recall that Pick N Pay revealed plans to bring its Bitcoin and lightning payment trial to the public, announcing the extension of the testing phase to 39 designated stores across South Africa. The retail giant had been trialing the feature with preselected testers in 10 stores before extending it.

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They further disclosed that the 39 outlets were still testing the feature and that it would be rolled out to more outlets in the months to come. As previously reported, Pick N Pay leveraged the Lightning Network Payment solution provided by CryptoConvert to develop the BTC payment option.

Customers are expected to have a standard Bitcoin Lightning Wallet such as Muun wallet or BlueWallet, as well as the CryptoQR scanner app from CryptoConvert. The CryptoQR app is meant to be linked to the Bitcoin Lightning Wallet being used. 

If you wish to pay for your products using Bitcoin, you can then use your CryptoQR app to scan a QR code at the outlet’s “Contactless QR” payment option. You will be redirected to your Lightning Wallet where you will have to confirm the quote and the payment.

The development is another step towards expediting Bitcoin and crypto adoption in the African continent. Despite the dominance of unfavorable regulatory measures, the adoption rate remains high, as most Africans have resorted to P2P transactions for their crypto needs. Africa topped the list of regions with the highest P2P transactions in May 2021.

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