The South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay is expanding its Bitcoin (BTC) coverage to all 1,628 stores across the country following a three-month pilot testing phase in 39 locations. As part of its nationwide rollout, store customers will be able to pay for items using cryptocurrency via smartphone apps or by scanning a QR code and accepting the South African rand's conversion rate at the time of payment. Good news, everyone! CryptoQR is now active at all Pick-n-Pay stores across South Africa, including PnP express and clothing shops! You can also buy Airtime and Electricity, Plane and Bus tickets, …

South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has included a new clause for the cryptocurrency industry aimed at protecting consumers from unethical advertising. Companies and individuals in South Africa must abide by certain advertising standards pertaining to the provision of cryptocurrency products and services in a new clause introduced to Section III of the country’s advertising code. The first clause requires that adverts, including cryptocurrency offerings, must ‘expressly and clearly’ state that investments may result in the loss of capital ‘as the value is variable and can go up as well as down.’ Furthermore, adverts must not contradict warnings about potential …

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago highlighted issues surrounding the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, held in Davos, Switzerland. In a WEF 2023 panel discussion dubbed “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies” Kganyago voiced his opinions on CBDCs and questioned if there’s a real problem solved by this new technology. Kganyago said: "Is this a solution looking for a problem or do we have some real problem that we are trying to solve?" The central bank governor also highlighted that the countries which are researching and …

Effective regulations are one of the key gateways to cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption. Due to greater compliance, crypto businesses saw broader acceptance from regulators worldwide. While the crypto ecosystem was awarded countless operational licenses and exposure to new markets, the fall of Terraform Labs, FTX and Celsius, among others, had a negative impact on the industry's reputation with investors and regulators alike. As we look back on 2022 and all it brought for the cryptocurrency industry, we're highlighting how the regulatory landscape has changed for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry as a whole. North America China’s blanket ban on crypto mining …

How does one build a Bitcoin (BTC) community? How to start? Where to begin? And what are the best practices? Cointelegraph spoke to Bitcoin community builders around the world to shed light on a growing phenomenon in the Bitcoin world. From Indonesia to South Africa to El Salvador and the Congo, circular-based Bitcoin economies and community projects have sprung up across the globe. Cointelegraph asked the successful community-focused Bitcoiners how to kickstart a Bitcoin circular economy and what advice they’d lend to enthusiasts looking to replicate the success of projects like Bitcoin Beach, El Zonte. For Bitcoin community project leader …

Pick n Pay, one of South Africa’s largest supermarket chains, is set to allow its customers to pay for items in all its stores using Bitcoin. According to South African-based tech news outlet Tech Central, Pick N Pay is planning to roll out its cryptocurrency payments service to its stores nationwide in the coming months, after years of experimentation in select stores. The supermarket chain allegedly started experimenting with Bitcoin payments five years ago in Cape Town, but was stymied by expensive costs and long transaction wait times. The nationwide rollout will allow the store's customers to pay for items …

South African financial service providers have been primed to offer cryptocurrency products and services to customers after regulatory amendments in the country. This comes after South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority amended its financial advisory act from 2002 on Oct. 19, defining crypto assets in the country as financial products. Most importantly, the definition means that cryptocurrencies can now be offered by financial service providers, both domestic or international, given that they are licensed in South Africa. South Africa already commands a growing number of retail cryptocurrency users estimated to include as many as six million individual users and investors. …

The Metaverse is quickly becoming one of the most important places for companies and individuals looking to expand their reach. New findings from research firm MarketsandMarkets predict that the Metaverse market size will grow from $61.8 billion in 2022 to $426.9 billion by 2027. In addition, a recent report from Juniper Research links nonfungible token (NFT) growth to metaverse use cases. According to these findings, metaverse-related NFTs will experience an increase from 600,000 transactions in 2022 to 9.8 million by 2027. Given this potential, a number of regions across the globe have started to establish a virtual presence. For example, …

National rugby captain Siya Kolisi will spearhead a two-year educational cryptocurrency advertising campaign in South Africa. The Springbok skipper has partnered with global cryptocurrency exchange Luno in the campaign's rollout, which will feature a series of television adverts promoting a long-term investment attitude towards cryptocurrencies. Kolisi was front and center of the first advert of the new campaign, which was aired during the Springboks’ third match of the Rugby Championship against Australia on Aug. 27. The light-hearted commercial features the brawny flank being put through his paces by a personal trainer while drawing parallels between his long-term game plan for …

The Prudential Authority of the Reserve Bank of South Africa sent out guidelines in effort to prevent illicit activities to its subsidiaries, which included encouragement not to cut off all ties with cryptocurrency. It suggested that such an act could cause greater risk in the long run. The official notice was signed by the Prudential Authority CEO, Fundi Tshazibana. In the past certain South African banks cut ties with what is called in the document, “Crypto Asset Service Providers” (CASP), due to unclear regulations or a high risk factor. However the notice highlights that risk assessment doesn’t mean dropping crypto …

Which countries are banning Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Banning a global technology and economic paradigm like BTC is not the best approach for governments to protect their citizens from the risks of this asset class. It is by hand holding them through the journey, educating and setting the right controls in place that safeguarding retail customers can be achieved. There have been several bans on BTC, other cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency mining across the world. China banned cryptocurrencies in 2021 in light of its central bank digital currency, and it also affected Bitcoin mining. As a result, the BTC hash rate …

An innovation using the cellular network (GSM) could onboard millions of Bitcoin (BTC) users previously unreachable by the internet-dependent Bitcoin protocol. Built by South African developer Kgothatso Ngako, the new SMS-based service is named Machankura, a slang South African word for money. KG, as he’s known to his friends, spoke to Cointelegraph from Pretoria, South Africa, about his fascination with Bitcoin and the hope he has that sending it like a text will bring BTC to millions of Africans. Machankura, the #Bitcoin for feature phones service in Africa, is slowly growing. https://t.co/TZngXXVhu0 — Derek Ross ⚡5️⃣ (@derekmross) August 8, 2022 …