More South Africans are now using digital money, as both businesses and individuals turn to cryptocurrencies for daily spending and saving for the future.
The popularity and value of cryptocurrencies have continued to grow over the years, even though their prices often go up and down.
Bitcoin, the most popular digital currency, has increased by about 1,000 per cent in the past five years and more than 6,000 per cent in the last ten years, according to Theoniel McDonald, head of financial planning at Wealth Associates.
Retailers join the digital payment wave
Many retailers in South Africa are now allowing customers to pay with cryptocurrency. Big stores like Pick n Pay work with platforms such as MoneyBadger, Luno, Binance, and VALR to let shoppers make payments using QR codes at the checkout. Bootlegger Coffee is another local business now accepting crypto payments.
According to Kamogelo Mosime, the country manager at Yellow Card, a company that deals with stablecoin payments, cryptocurrencies should not be seen as a way to get rich quickly or as a replacement for the rand.
Instead, they are an extra option for people to make payments and do business every day. He explained that crypto transactions are often wrongly seen as hidden or untraceable, but in reality, all transactions are recorded and can be tracked more easily than normal money transfers.
New data from Luno, one of South Africa’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, shows that crypto use in the country is growing fast. Over 530,000 new users joined Luno in the past year, increasing its total South African users to more than 6.3 million out of 15 million worldwide.
Luno’s tokenised stocks, known as xStocks, which allow people to buy shares in companies through the blockchain, are also becoming popular. Around 19,000 South Africans have invested in these digital stocks, with Nvidia, Meta, and Apple being the top choices.
Since Luno launched its crypto payment feature, Luno Pay, in late 2024, more than 50,000 payments have been made through 1,700 merchants, totaling over R30 million in transactions.
About 70 per cent of users continue using it regularly, showing increasing confidence in digital payments.
Bitcoin remain popular in South Africa
Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency in South Africa. However, other digital coins like XRP, Ethereum, Solana, and Dogecoin are also becoming widely used.
Many people are turning to stablecoins such as USDT to protect their money when the crypto market is unstable.
Luno says that staking — a way for users to earn rewards by holding their crypto — is also becoming more common.
The most popular coins for staking among South Africans are Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano. This trend shows that more people are moving from quick trading to long-term investing in cryptocurrency.