Pick n Pay, a grocery retail outlet, has said “yes” to crypto payments and will now allow customers to pay for their items with assets like bitcoin and Ethereum.
Pick n Pay Says “Yes” to Crypto Payments
The move is pushing the goals of bitcoin and its digital counterparts closer to being achieved. What many people likely forget is that while bitcoin and many of its crypto cousins have taken on either speculative or even hedge-like statuses in recent years, many of them were initially designed to serve as payment tools. They were built to push checks, credit cards, and fiat currencies to the side, but this has been a relatively slow journey given the volatility that continues to drag them down.
It is extremely hard to understand when bitcoin and its crypto family will go up or down when it comes to their prices. Many stores and companies have been reluctant to say “yes” when it comes to accepting crypto payments for this reason, and to a degree, we can’t blame them.
Consider the following scenario: someone walks into a store and buys $50 worth of merchandise with bitcoin. For one reason or another, the store doesn’t trade the BTC into fiat right away and about 24 hours go by. From there, the price of BTC goes down and that $50 becomes $40. The customer gets to keep everything he or she bought, but the store has lost money in the end. Is this a fair situation? Not everyone thinks so.
That’s what makes enterprises like Pick n Pay so important. They understand the initial purposes of bitcoin and digital currencies and are trying to transform them into usable tools that everyday people can benefit from.
In a statement, Pick n Pay explained:
Increasingly, cryptocurrency is being used by those underserved by traditional banking systems or by those wanting to pay and exchange money in a cheaper and [more] convenient way. Many companies are responding to this by accepting bitcoin.
The initiative to accept digital currency payments wasn’t something the company threw itself into immediately. Pick n Pay first started out with a pilot program by testing the payment protocols out at a few stores here and there to see if things really took off. The company teamed up with firms like Electrum and Crypto Convert – two digital currency payment enterprises – to ensure customers could pay for their groceries quickly and safely.
Another Boost for Mainstream Adoption
Carel van Wyck – founder of Crypto Convert – said in an interview:
Crypto payments are still in their infancy in South Africa, but we are already seeing adoption in parts of our society that haven’t previously had access to traditional financial systems.
Despite crashing prices and the present bear market, the above is a testament to how strong crypto remains.
