Pick n Pay customers are buying more than R1-million/month worth of groceries using cryptocurrencies, a new report has revealed.

The report, by crypto trading and investment platform Luno, said this figure has jumped from an average of about R25 000/month just a year ago, and it suggests South Africans are increasingly using crypto for payments, not only viewing it as an investment.

Luno said it has processed more than R3-million worth of crypto payments through the Luno Pay feature since its launch in September 2023.

The average basket size for purchases on Luno Pay is R370, and the largest basket to date was R10 000 (a Luno-imposed limit). The most popular cryptocurrency used for payments is bitcoin, which is also – unsurprisingly – the most popular crypto investment on Luno’s platform.

Carel van Wyk, founder and CEO of Money Badger, a company that connects merchants like Pick n Pay to exchanges to enable payments in crypto, said in the report that the use cases for crypto payments are growing but they are “still on the fringes of the traditional financial system”.

“The investment case and the payment case will eventually align. If people have crypto, there’s a good chance they may want to spend it without having to exit the crypto ecosystem by selling their crypto and sending the money to a bank account.”

Money Badger has developed a payments channel between vendors and licensed exchanges (including Luno), allowing payments to be cleared almost instantly.

Like SnapScan

Van Wyk said he doesn’t believe crypto payments apps will compete directly with traditional bank-integrated payment channels. Rather, they help people use crypto the same way they would other forms of money.

“What we offer is similar to what SnapScan or Apple Pay are already doing, but it’s on a different foundation. We want to make it convenient and simple for people to use their crypto and to create a market of merchants that accept crypto,” he said.

Read: Luno, VALR bitcoin wallets now accepted at Pick n Pay

Luno said that according to Statista estimates, the global crypto payment market will triple by 2030 to US$4.8-billion, from $1.6-billion in 2023. “As crypto adoption continues to grow, so could the case for being able to use crypto to pay,” said country manager Christo de Wit. “One of the fundamental principles of money is its redeemability. Cryptocurrency is increasingly being treated as more than just an investment.” — © 2024 NewsCentral Media