South African Payment Processor PayFast Integrates Bitcoin

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South Africa-based payment processor PayFast is taking a bold new step.

The country’s leading payment processor has announced that they have integrated support for bitcoin as a payment option for their more than 30,000 merchant clients.

The program — which is currently in beta — will allow merchants to accept bitcoin payments from customers both locally and internationally. And much like BitPay and GoCoin, for example, will instantly convert to local currency once the payment has been completed.

It’s all coming together thanks to a partnership with South African bitcoin exchange BitX, and according to PayFast founder and managing director, Mr. Jonathan Smit, the move is more about testing the waters than catering to consumer demand.

“We are not really seeing a demand for bitcoin from customers per se, but bitcoin is very much a hot topic on South African lips,” he said to the Wall Street Journal.

“The position we are taking is not necessarily driven by a clear business case but we are always on the lookout for alternatives and we are always looking for ideas that could become something,” he added.

The feature is available beginning today, and customers who shop at web stores utilizing the PayFast service will see a Bitcoin option alongside the more traditional credit card and instant EFT options.

Merchants looking to take advantage of the new feature can access their Settings page and enable Bitcoin from there. Sounds easy enough!