South Africa: Growing Hot Spot for Bitcoin Adoption

I have been working inside the Bitcoin and Crypto Currency industry for quite some time and have connections all over the world. However it has only been in the last few months that I have found anyone inside South Africa really pushing for mainstream adoption. Following is from one of my new friends. Kelvin. He is an owner of a Coffee Shop in South Africa. I asked him if he would consider writing about his experiences and why recently he has decided, along with MANY others to adopt Bitcoin

After dragging its heals out of a sullied political past, South Africa, the so called Rainbow Nation, was at one time set to flourish under new leadership. Sadly Nelson Mandela’s legacy has been dimmed by lesser leaders and astute South Africans are now actively looking to secure their financial position in less traditional ways. A few years ago, local knowledge of Bitcoin was almost non-existent, the first exchanges appearing locally in 2013. While not as liquid as their more international counterparts, there is a growing interest motivated by a falling Rand.

Whilst there are a mere handful of South African businesses advertising acceptance of Bitcoin, the number of private individuals securing wealth in the crypto-currency is obviously more difficult to fathom. South Africans are pretty tech-savvy to the extent of a smartphone and computer, but e-currency still has a lot of ground to cover before gaining a broader consumer awareness. Small outposts of early adopters, however are breaking new ground and one of the areas of promise is the arena of informal trade.

Street-side traders are often quick to see the benefit of any means that minimises cost of doing business and to many, banking fees are plain and simple unaffordable within the margins that they operate. The use of cell phone technology backed by a large service provider, has allowed mass adoption of M-pesa in Kenya for low value transactions. Even while it does come at a small cost, the concept has proven very successful. Given sufficient motivation, coming in at almost no cost, coupled with a simple understanding of a crypto-currency wallet, peer to peer transfers within impoverished communities have the potential to go viral.

In a step up from the potential for informal traders, small business owners are really the ones that have already been coming on board by accepting Bitcoin transactions. Apart from the obvious reason in transacting with a currency that has real world value outside of national borders, there is a growing recognition locally of the ease of use. Transacting with digital wallets has significant appeal to business owners in a country that has historically restricted exchange with other fiat currencies quite severely. International tourism is a significant revenue generator for South Africa, and the hospitality industry in particular, has the potential to see benefit in a crypto-currency revolution.

Perhaps the most interesting perspective is the novelty value to South Africans, who for long years were only exposed to Western technologies through the media.  The opening of trade over the last decade has seen incredible local adoption of high tech gadgetry and on this basis, there is an excitement amongst early adopters. As a mechanism for adoption this should not be discounted, and once buy-in has been gained, holders of crypto-currencies will find great store in using it to purchase goods from trend setting outlets, such as coffee shops and boutique stores.

Given our limp economy and the bleak outlook on the socio-economic front, I believe that a growing number of South Africans feel that crypto’s are an excellent means to safeguarding value. In the face of a fiat currency that has recently plummeted due to political machinations, and in part spurred on by global economic gloom, crypto’s are fomenting within the nations consciousness. I am sensing a growing enthusiasm and that is tremendously encouraging for me personally. Emerging crypto’s, and perhaps more so those adopting solid strategies to enter this market, similar to that of Capricoin, are set to prompt a ground-swell of potential mass adoption within the African context.After dragging its heals out of a sullied political past, South Africa, the so called Rainbow Nation, was at one time set to flourish under new leadership. Sadly Nelson Mandela’s legacy has been dimmed by lesser leaders and astute South Africans are now actively looking to secure their financial position in less traditional ways. A few years ago, local knowledge of Bitcoin was almost non-existent, the first exchanges appearing locally in 2013. While not as liquid as their more international counterparts, there is a growing interest motivated by a falling Rand.

Whilst there are a mere handful of South African businesses advertising acceptance of Bitcoin, the number of private individuals securing wealth in the crypto-currency is obviously more difficult to fathom. South Africans are pretty tech-savvy to the extent of a smartphone and computer, but e-currency still has a lot of ground to cover before gaining a broader consumer awareness. Small outposts of early adopters, however are breaking new ground and one of the areas of promise is the arena of informal trade.

Street-side traders are often quick to see the benefit of any means that minimises cost of doing business and to many, banking fees are plain and simple unaffordable within the margins that they operate. The use of cell phone technology backed by a large service provider, has allowed mass adoption of M-pesa in Kenya for low value transactions. Even while it does come at a small cost, the concept has proven very successful. Given sufficient motivation, coming in at almost no cost, coupled with a simple understanding of a crypto-currency wallet, peer to peer transfers within impoverished communities have the potential to go viral.

In a step up from the potential for informal traders, small business owners are really the ones that have already been coming on board by accepting Bitcoin transactions. Apart from the obvious reason in transacting with a currency that has real world value outside of national borders, there is a growing recognition locally of the ease of use. Transacting with digital wallets has significant appeal to business owners in a country that has historically restricted exchange with other fiat currencies quite severely. International tourism is a significant revenue generator for South Africa, and the hospitality industry in particular, has the potential to see benefit in a crypto-currency revolution.

Perhaps the most interesting perspective is the novelty value to South Africans, who for long years were only exposed to Western technologies through the media.  The opening of trade over the last decade has seen incredible local adoption of high tech gadgetry and on this basis, there is an excitement amongst early adopters. As a mechanism for adoption this should not be discounted, and once buy-in has been gained, holders of crypto-currencies will find great store in using it to purchase goods from trend setting outlets, such as coffee shops and boutique stores.

Given our limp economy and the bleak outlook on the socio-economic front, I believe that a growing number of South Africans feel that crypto’s are an excellent means to safeguarding value. In the face of a fiat currency that has recently plummeted due to political machinations, and in part spurred on by global economic gloom, crypto’s are fomenting within the nations consciousness. I am sensing a growing enthusiasm and that is tremendously encouraging for me personally. Emerging crypto’s, and perhaps more so those adopting solid strategies to enter this market, similar to that of Capricoin, are set to prompt a ground-swell of potential mass adoption within the African context.

I want to thank Kelvin for taking the time to share this and look forward to many years to come working together. Bitcoin is not very easy for South Africans to acquire yet. At the time of this posting BTC is trading internationally around $450 USD. However due to the difficulties within the nation they are forced to pay $30 to $70 dollars per coin more. We did try to use Coinbase but unfortunately the Fiat to BTC service is still not in place. We are continuing to source ways for South Africans to purchase BTC at fair market rates. We would invite anyone to comment if they have found a reliable way of doing so.

Image Source: http://insidebitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Africa-bitcoinist.jpg

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