Ever scanned a supermarket QR and paid with Bitcoin? That quiet click is a big story. We sit with Carl from Money Badger to trace how South Africa’s retailers—led by Pick n Pay—went from a scrappy Lightning experiment to nationwide Bitcoin payments across hundreds of thousands of tills. It’s a tale of timing, grit, and a country that loves to leapfrog: COVID-era QR infrastructure met Lightning’s instant, low-fee settlements, and suddenly sats bought bread.
Carl shares the builder’s journey—early doubts in 2014 and 2018, the rough-but-working Crypto QR bridge, and the wallet integrations that turned a clunky flow into something you barely notice. We go inside the pilot strategy (Stellenbosch, Sedgefield, Mossel Bay, and an on-campus Cape Town store) and how communities like Bitcoin Ekasi created real demand: shop owners restocking with sats, locals moving value seamlessly, and traction that convinced decision-makers to scale. We also unpack the name change from Crypto Convert to Money Badger, the reason language matters with banks and Bitcoiners, and why the mission stays simple: Bitcoin should work as money—every day, everywhere.
The conversation moves into the real-world frictions: exchange wallets vs self-custody, why stablecoins appear at the till, and how Lightning’s custodial convenience rubs against decentralisation. Carl explains the lingering “scar tissue” from 2017’s on-chain pilots and why the past six to eight months mark a shift—retailers who once said “you’re crazy” are now asking “how soon?” We explore the evolving protocol landscape and why open competition, not committee rules, keeps Bitcoin resilient. If you’ve ever wondered how a medium of exchange emerges from a store of value—and what it takes to get there in practice—this is your front-row seat at the checkout.
Enjoyed the conversation? Follow us, share with a friend who spends sats, and leave a review so more South Africans discover how to pay with Bitcoin tomorrow.
X: @MoneyBadgerPay
https://www.moneybadger.co.za
Links:
www.bitcoinforbusiness.io
X: @gavingre
X: @BTC_4_Biz
Primal: GavinBGreen@primal.net
NOSTR: npub12qv07tpwk8x8fy2uuqczghpappap395npuxvsx8pgksh97pezv7s8r7qta
Published on 6 hours ago
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