Bitcoin in South Africa my bru

Howzit my South African compatriots (Zuma liked that word a lot). I want to share what I’ve found out so far about the use cases for Bitcoin in sunny SA. Not every country around the world is totally friendly to cryptocurrency yet, but in South Africa it turns out that you can actually find lots of businesses that accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for their goods and services. How Lekker (nice) is that!
First of all our banks will allow us to transfer Rands (ZAR) onto a Bitcoin exchange to buy our crypto, and that says a lot. It is a huge step forward toward acceptance here. Some less progressive countries have prohibited their banks from accepting Bitcoin exchanges as clients, which means they are totally out of the loop. So we are quite lucky in that regard. Secondly, I looked online and there are many companies that will do business in Bitcoin. By far the majority of them are in IT or computer-related industries, and that makes complete sense. Bitcoin is popular among geeks. Being a progressive, cutting edge digital commodity, it would be the computer boffins that lead the way in Bitcoin adoption. So you will find numerous computer repair businesses and salespeople accepting Bitcoin as payment for their skills and products. They are the ones that know how to use it and are willing to give up dealing in Rands and rather trade their time and valuables for this revolutionary currency. That should tell you something about Bitcoin as a commodity. If these smart and tech savvy people are willing to accept it, then it is probably worth more than we less-informed guys realise.
Even more amazing is that anyone who is a customer of payfast.co.za, a payment processor used by over 30 000 websites, will accept Bitcoin through the payfast gateway, and get South African Rand deposited into their bank account. These businesses might not even know Bitcoin was used to pay for their products. That really opens up the trading field for us here down south, hey. The amazing thing about this concept to me is that if I can use my Rands to buy Bitcoin and then use the Bitcoin to buy goods and services online, then I don’t have to transfer that Bitcoin back into Rands and can thus bypass the banking system and all the fees, taxes, etc altogether. That is a very empowering strategy depending on where your imagination takes you. It’s like being outside the system! And that’s why I like Bitcoin so much, and why I want to share this information with you as I find it. I want people to become empowered sovereign entities in their own right, free from the shackles of the corrupt governments of the world and its MPs. Call me a rebel if you like. South Africa is known to breed rugged individualists. It could be all the sunny skies and wide open plains (we won’t mention the Great Trek as Bitcoin is beyond race in the Rainbow Nation).
Now besides that, there are also other businesses that, like the tech geeks, accept Bitcoin directly because they have Bitcoin addresses or wallets. You can hire a scooter in Cape Town, or rent out a holiday at a stylish self-catering unit on an estate in Dullstroom or dine at an upmarket restaurant on a wine estate in Somerset West to list but a few. This is of course great for tourism, which is one of the leading sources of revenue in sunny South Africa. It means that globally-minded companies are adopting Bitcoin as a means of payment for very valuable products at a local level. Perhaps they know something we don’t – that Bitcoin is here to stay and can be just as valuable a currency as any fiat or paper money in the world. Some would say even more valuable because it has the potential to increase hugely in value, way beyond our local fiat currency which is fast deteriorating in our emerging market situation at this time in history.
Other than that, there is an Education Media and Illustration service also in Stellies that will accept Bitcoin. You can also do a full paramedic, fire fighting, first aid, health & safety, and environmental training course in Polokwane. Or you can get married at a wedding service, and hire a separate professional photographer for Bitcoin. After the tech industry, it seems that the tourism industry has the most Bitcoin-friendly businesses on offer, which shows you the types of people who think big or think outside the local box. Admittedly this may still be a small niche market... you can’t buy petrol or gas for Bitcoin yet, or groceries at the supermarket but you will find a Bitcoin ATM at Northwood Spar near the coastal tourist city of Durban (and over 3000 in 68 countries globally). Apparently there are an estimated 300 000 South Africans involved in cryptocurrency as of the end of 2017, so that figure has probably grown already.
All of this shows us that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is slowly becoming more mainstream as people find out about it and adoption grows. It’s just about being informed, doing your research and being aware of potential scams or cons that are there in this new industry. Then with insight anyone can use this potentially liberating tool to break out of the constrains of local fiat currency and become a true global trader, with the potential to earn more profit digitally than you will ever be able to earn with your humble third world emerging market paper money fiat currency. And as a disclaimer this is not financial advice, just my personal experience as a South African.