In what is potentially a world-first for a major grocery retailer, Electrum, a payments technology firm in Cape Town, says it has enabled Pick n Pay to accept Bitcoin payments in-store.
For a limited time customers at Pick n Pay’s head office campus store have been able to use the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to purchase groceries and services.
“The checkout process is as simple as scanning a QR code using a Bitcoin wallet app on the customer’s smartphone,” Electrum said.
“At Pick n Pay, one of our key values is to embrace change and encourage innovation and leadership. To deliver on that promise we are constantly working with our technology partners to find ways in which we can deliver valuable, innovative services to our customers,” said Jason Peisl, IS executive at Pick n Pay.
“Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are still relatively new payment concepts, yet we have been able to effectively demonstrate how we are able to accept such alternative payments.”
Electrum said it provided the cloud-based enterprise payments platform used for the transactions, while the Bitcoin infrastructure for the project was provided by Luno, a global Bitcoin company, active in Southeast Asia and Africa, and with an office in Cape Town.
Luno enables South African consumers to easily buy, sell, send and spend Bitcoin.
