2024-11-15 –, Nakamoto Stage
South Africa has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to Bitcoin adoption. We managed to OP the second largest retailer on the continent to accept Bitcoin at their point of sale at hundreds of locations nationwide. But, this is only the start, and we need the community's help to create demand for Bitcoin acceptance by merchants.
The talk will cover my approach to driving Bitcoin adoption in my country, South Africa. The chicken and egg game of crypto payments needs work on both sides of the equation (both on the buyer and seller side) to make everything work well. In 2023 I enabled Bitcoin payments over Lightning at the till for a major South African retailer and we have seen Bitcoin payments adoption grow significantly over the past year. This also assists with numerous grass-roots community adoption campaigns like Bitcoin Ekasi and Bitcoin Witsand. What does the future look like for SA and how can we increase the rate of adoption? What are the challenges we face and why is it of particular importance in a country that faces some of the highest levels of inequality in the world and with a population starkly divided by politics?
Carel is a South African software engineer who develops products in the digital payments space. He has co-founded companies like SnapScan, Luno and MoneyBadger (formerly CryptoConvert) to help drive mobile Bitcoin commerce adoption in South Africa.