South Africa Just Made Crypto Shopping a Reality at 650,000+ Stores via Scan to Pay

Walk into any Shoprite in South Africa. Grab your groceries. Get to checkout.

Then pull out your phone and pay with Bitcoin.

No conversion. No delays. No drama.

Just scan, confirm, done.

That’s not the future anymore. That’s South Africa right now.

The Breakthrough: From 30,000 to 650,000 Stores Overnight

Here’s what just happened: Luno Pay partnered with Scan to Pay, powered by Ukheshe, to integrate cryptocurrency payments across South Africa’s largest QR payment network. The result is nearly 700,000 retail outlets that can now accept crypto payments.

To put that into perspective, before this integration, Luno Pay was working with roughly 30,000 merchants. Following the partnership, it now operates at 650,000 additional Scan to Pay locations, expanding its total reach to nearly 700,000 stores nationwide.

Prominent household names are now crypto-friendly, including Shoprite, Checkers, Makro, Vodacom, and Pick’n Pay. You can literally buy groceries, fuel, airtime, and pretty much anything else with Bitcoin or Tether.

The Tech: Why Lightning Network Changes Everything

Let’s discuss why this actually works, as the technology behind it is crucial.

Traditional Bitcoin transactions are slow and expensive. Settlement time can take up to 10 minutes, transaction fees range from $2 to $5 per transaction, and the use case has primarily been for investment rather than shopping. These characteristics made Bitcoin impractical for purchasing a cup of coffee or paying for groceries.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network changes that equation altogether. Settlement time drops to just seconds, and transaction fees fall to less than 10 cents; suddenly, the use case becomes perfect for everyday purchases. The Lightning Network facilitates payments through payment channels, enabling millions of micropayments to be processed daily. With over 35,000 active payment channels globally and roughly 1,500 BTC in total channel capacity, it’s built for scale.

“The Scan to Pay app’s integration with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network enables businesses to accept inexpensive, almost instantaneous Bitcoin payments.” — BanklessTimes

This isn’t experimental tech anymore. It’s production-ready infrastructure handling real transactions at grocery stores across an entire country.

How It Actually Works: The User Experience

The checkout process is dead simple. For customers, you can check out with your items and pay with “Contactless QR.” Open your Luno app, or alternatively, Binance, VALR, or Blink, and then scan the QR code displayed at the terminal. You select Bitcoin, Tether, or another cryptocurrency, confirm the payment, and you’re done. The entire process takes seconds.

For merchants, the system requires zero changes to their existing infrastructure. They receive instant payment notification, get settled in local currency (Rand), and face no crypto volatility risk. The magic happens via MoneyBadger, a fintech platform that directly links crypto exchanges to point-of-sale systems. Merchants don’t need to understand cryptocurrency. They just get paid.

The Numbers: Real Adoption Is Happening

Since launching in November 2024, Luno Pay has posted impressive statistics that show this is far more than a novelty. The platform has completed over 48,000 transactions representing more than R28 million in transaction volume, which translates to roughly $1.5 million USD. This occurred across 1,600 merchants before the Scan to Pay integration even took effect. Most significantly, the platform maintains a 70% repeat customer rate.

That 70% number is crucial because it means people aren’t just trying crypto payments once for novelty. They’re coming back. They’re using it regularly. This pattern indicates genuine behaviour change rather than experimental curiosity.

The repeated usage makes sense when you consider the incentives. Luno Pay offers up to 10% cashback in Tether (USDT) when you pay with USDT. That’s basically free money for using crypto instead of your card. No extra fees. Instant rewards. Wider acceptance than ever. It’s a compelling value proposition that drives real adoption.

Why This Matters: Financial Inclusion at Scale

Here’s the bigger picture that goes beyond convenient payments: 40 million South Africans are unbanked. That’s 40 million people without access to traditional banking services. No checking accounts. No credit cards. No easy way to participate in the digital economy.

Until now, cryptocurrency payments offer an alternative financial infrastructure that doesn’t require minimum balance requirements, credit checks, physical bank branches, or traditional banking relationships. All you need is a smartphone and internet access. And with smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa projected to hit 67% of all phone connections by 2025, up from 34% in 2017, the infrastructure is catching up with the ambition.

The Cost Advantage

Traditional payment processing comes with layers of fees. Credit card processors take their cut. Banks take their cut. Everyone takes their cut. Bitcoin transactions via Lightning Network deliver up to 98% savings on payment costs compared to traditional rails.

For retailers operating on thin margins, that’s a massive advantage. For consumers, it means more purchasing power. When you remove the middlemen, value flows directly between the customer and the merchant.

The Crypto Landscape in South Africa

South Africa isn’t just dabbling in crypto. The country is all-in, and the numbers prove it. Approximately 10% of South Africans, representing over six million people, own or use cryptocurrency. South Africa actually ranks third globally, with 13% of its population owning crypto, and Bitcoin is the most popular asset.

The regulatory environment provides clarity that many other African nations lack. Crypto assets were declared financial products in October 2022, and Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) are now regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The Travel Rule was implemented in April 2025 to ensure transparency and compliance with regulations. This creates a generally supportive framework compared to some African nations that remain hostile to crypto innovation.

The infrastructure supporting crypto payments is impressive. Fourteen banks are connected to Scan to Pay, 94 payment service providers are integrated, and merchant adoption continues growing across sectors. The regulatory clarity matters because while some African countries like Algeria, Libya, and Morocco have banned cryptocurrency use, South Africa has created a framework that encourages innovation while protecting consumers.

From Investment to Currency: The Mindset Shift

Here’s what’s truly interesting about South Africa’s crypto evolution: people are fundamentally shifting their perspective on cryptocurrency.

The old mindset treated Bitcoin purely as an investment vehicle. Buy it, hold it, hope it goes up. Check the price obsessively. Never actually spend it because you might miss out on future gains.

The new mindset views Bitcoin as a form of money. Earn it, spend it, use it. The psychological shift from speculative asset to medium of exchange is critical for mainstream adoption. When people start thinking of crypto as something they actually use, rather than just holding, it unlocks real-world utility.

And that utility is now available at your local grocery store, creating a feedback loop that reinforces the behaviour change.

What’s Next: The Rollout Phases

The Scan to Pay crypto integration is rolling out in stages to ensure stability and gather user feedback. Phase one, which is currently active, includes gasless USDT (Polygon) transactions, integration with major exchanges, and basic QR code payments.

Phase two, coming soon, will introduce multi-chain payment support, expanded cryptocurrency options, and enhanced merchant tools that make it easier for businesses to manage crypto transactions. Phase three will introduce cashback rewards programs, loyalty integrations, and merchant-specific discounts and promotions that incentivize regular cryptocurrency usage.

The phased approach lets the system scale sustainably while refining the experience based on real-world usage patterns rather than theoretical assumptions.

The Competition: Other Players in the Space

South Africa’s crypto payment ecosystem is getting crowded, and that’s actually a positive development because competition drives innovation.

Luno Pay has emerged as the most significant player, with over 700,000 merchants following its integration. Binance Pay offered aggressive 50% cashback promotions in September 2025 to drive adoption through its partnership with Zapper. VALR has integrated with multiple payment platforms and continues expanding its merchant network. Blink, a Bitcoin Lightning wallet, is gaining traction with growing merchant acceptance. Pick’n Pay made headlines as the first major African retailer to integrate crypto payments directly at checkout, setting a precedent that others followed.

As platforms compete for users and merchants, the experience improves, fees drop, and adoption accelerates. Competition in this space benefits everyone.

The Global Context: South Africa Leading Africa

When you zoom out and look at the continental picture, South Africa is positioning itself as Africa’s crypto payment leader through a combination of factors that other countries haven’t yet assembled.

Nigeria has a larger population but a less integrated merchant infrastructure for crypto payments. Kenya has a strong mobile money infrastructure through M-Pesa, but limited crypto merchant acceptance. Egypt shows higher crypto funding numbers but faces regulatory uncertainty that makes businesses cautious. Ghana demonstrates a growing interest, but its operations are currently smaller in scale.

South Africa’s combination of regulatory clarity, merchant infrastructure, and consumer adoption creates a unique environment that fosters the growth of crypto payments. The country is basically running the playbook that others will study and follow.

Real-World Use Cases

So what are people actually buying with crypto? Based on transaction data and merchant categories, the diversity is striking.

Groceries and essentials represent the bread and butter of daily crypto usage, quite literally. People are buying actual bread and butter with Bitcoin at Shoprite and Checkers. Fuel and transport purchases mean paying at the pump with Bitcoin has become routine for some drivers. Airtime and data top-ups via crypto at Vodacom and other providers solve a common need. Retail and clothing purchases at major chains indicate that crypto is moving beyond utility bills into discretionary spending. Online shopping transactions without card fees demonstrate the seamless integration of e-commerce.

The diversity of purchases shows this isn’t a niche experiment confined to tech enthusiasts. It’s becoming normalized behaviour across different demographics and use cases.

The Challenges Still to Overcome

Not everything is perfect. Crypto payments in South Africa still face hurdles that will take time to resolve.

Volatility concerns make some merchants nervous, though instant conversion to Rand mitigates this risk. Technical literacy remains an issue because not everyone understands how to use crypto wallets yet, especially older demographics. Internet access challenges persist in rural areas that still struggle with reliable connectivity. Smartphone penetration, while growing rapidly, isn’t yet universal across all economic segments. Regulatory changes could impact the ecosystem if future policy shifts in an unfavourable direction.

But here’s the thing: every payment technology faced these challenges early on. Credit cards weren’t adopted overnight. Mobile payments took years to gain traction. The trajectory matters more than the current state, and South Africa’s trajectory points strongly upward.

What This Means for the Future

South Africa’s crypto payment breakthrough signals something bigger than just a new way to pay for groceries.

For consumers, it means more payment choices, better rewards, and pathways to financial inclusion that didn’t exist before. For merchants, it delivers lower fees, faster settlement, and a competitive advantage in attracting crypto-savvy customers. For Africa as a continent, it provides a blueprint for crypto adoption that other nations can study and adapt. For cryptocurrency as a technology, it provides proof that digital currencies can be used for everyday transactions, not just speculation and investment.

The 650,000-plus store milestone isn’t the finish line. It’s the starting line for something much larger.

As more South Africans experience the benefits of crypto payments through speed, low cost, and rewards, adoption will compound. Network effects kick in with mathematical inevitability. More users attract more merchants. More merchants attract more users. It’s a virtuous cycle that feeds on itself.

The Bottom Line

South Africa just did something remarkable: it made cryptocurrency payments boring.

Not boring in a bad way. Boring in the best possible way.

Boring like scanning a QR code. Boring like tapping your card. Boring, like any other everyday payment method that you don’t think twice about.

When revolutionary technology becomes routine infrastructure, that’s when you know it’s working. When your grandmother can pay for groceries with Bitcoin without understanding blockchain technology, you’ve achieved true mainstream adoption.

So the next time someone asks, “When will crypto go mainstream?” point them to South Africa. It’s already happening, 650,000 stores at a time.

Want to try it yourself? Download Luno, VALR, or Binance in South Africa and look for the Scan to Pay QR code at checkout.

Are you using crypto for everyday purchases? Would this change how you shop? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.