Bitcoin Commerce. African Scale.
Sub-Saharan adoption is growing fast and an additional 650,000 merchants can now accept Bitcoin
African Bitcoin Commerce growing, big pushes from global giants and more in this edition.
Subsaharan Bitcoin adoption is on the rise, and 650,000 merchants now have access to Bitcoin payments
Square continues to move their Bitcoin payments initiative forward
Walmart-backed payment app integrates Bitcoin
How accepting Bitcoin is driving growth at Steak n’ Shake
Looking for a laugh? Check out our Bitcoin meme of the week at the back of the Roundup! 😁
Find it all here, and thanks from the Velas Team!
Bitcoin Commerce Rollout in Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is now the third-fastest global region for crypto adoption, with a 52% annual increase in value received on-chain, according to a recent article by CoinTelegraph.
And Bitcoin Commerce is racing there as well. We’ve been following the stream of adoption successes with Pick n’ Pay supermarkets throughout the year, and now Bitcoin and stablecoin payments are available at another 650,000 merchant terminals in South Africa!
The additional terminals were integrated through a partnership with MoneyBadger, the same company behind the Pick n’ Pay integration.
And that’s just part of the story, here’s a selection we’ve gathered since the last edition:
Pay with Bitcoin at all 200+ Seattle Coffee Company
Chipper Cash, an African fintech, is processing over 50% of its Bitcoin transactions using the Lightning Network
It’s great news for Bitcoin Commerce across Africa.
Lots more info here:
https://techcentral.co.za/crypto-hits-checkout-counters-south-africa/
https://x.com/MoneyBadgerPay/status/1970005138266788055
https://x.com/MoneyBadgerPay/status/1968755142099886577
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Square’s Bitcoin Integration Continues Forward
We continue following the rollout of Bitcoin payments in Square merchant point-of-sale terminals throughout the US.
Starting on November 10, 2025 Square merchants will be able to accept Bitcoin payments and automatically receive either BTC or USD, pay zero processing fees, no chargebacks, and instant access to their bitcoin.
Square merchants will also be able to convert up to 50% of their sales revenue to bitcoin.
Check out this figure from Square’s press release, it’s pretty exciting:
“Bitcoin continues to become a larger portion of everyday commerce: between 2024 and 2026, cryptocurrency payment users in the US are expected to grow by 82%.”
Fingers crossed Square hits their targets. This could be the biggest Bitcoin Commerce story of the year and we’ll be watching closely.
More info here:
https://squareup.com/us/en/press/square-bitcoin
https://squareup.com/us/es/bitcoin
https://cointelegraph.com/news/square-bitcoin-payments-merchants-crypto
Walmart-backed payment app integrates Bitcoin
OnePay, a Walmart-backed payment app that’s on a quest to become America’s super-app, just announced their customers will offer their customers access to Bitcoin this year.
Here’s what the move could mean according to CNBC:
“By allowing OnePay users to hold bitcoin and ether in their mobile app, customers could presumably convert their crypto into cash and then use those funds to make store purchases or pay off card balances.”
So is Walmart inching closer to Bitcoin? Sounds worth watching.
More info here:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/03/walmart-onepay-is-rolling-out-crypto-to-mobile-banking-app.html
Bitcoin Payments Driving Sales at Steak N’ Shake
We’re rounding out this edition with this great blog post by Speed Wallet, the payment processor behind the recent Steak N’ Shake bitcoin payment integration.
The post has lots of great thoughts on why Bitcoin makes so much sense for payments and commerce, but what may be most inspiring is the amount of excitement Steak N’ Shake was able to generate with a high-performance, high-visibility Bitcoin payment system for their restaurants.
Seems like good evidence for the growing demand for Bitcoin payments noted in Square’s analysis of the market previously mentioned.
Find the post by Speed Wallet and lots more info here:
https://www.tryspeed.com/blog/how-speed-is-driving-qsr-growth-at-steak-n-shake-with-bitcoin/
And our Bitcoin Commerce meme of the week.............🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
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If your FOSS project could benefit from built-in Bitcoin wallets, check out Time2Build by Breez. 25k prize pool.
👷Looking for funding for an open source Bitcoin project?
Check out our list of grants available that specialize in funding open source development for Bitcoin projects. Know a grant that’s not on the list? Let us know at engineering@velascommerce.com.