Bitcoin Payments Boom for Major South African Store đ¸
This edition of the Roundup features Bitcoin Commerce stories from all over the world!
Bitcoin payment merchant adoption proves a hit for South African Pick n Pay, e-commerce tech for Bitcoin continues forward.
South African retailer Pick n Pay reports that bitcoin payments are a hit
NuBank partners with LightSpark to boost Bitcoin and Lightning Network in Latin America
Donald Trump announced as speaker at USA Bitcoin Conference
South Londonâs Tooting Market now has merchants accepting bitcoin
BTCPay Server simplifies Lightning Payments with NOSTR Wallet Connect
Looking for a laugh? Check out our Bitcoin meme of the week at the back of the Roundup! đ
Find it all here, and thanks from the Velas Team!
South African Retailer Pick n Pay Achieve R1 Million Monthly in Bitcoin Payments
After one year of accepting bitcoin payments, South African retailer Pick n Pay reports their payment system has been a resounding success.
The retailer reports that bitcoin payment volume has âgrown exponentiallyâ since implementing the system, starting at a baseline of 25,000 South African Rand to now over 1,000,000 Rand in monthly volume.
Deven Moodley, with Pick n Pay, explains the simplicity of the system for their customers: âYou simply tell the cashier you want to pay using a QR code, and scan your phone at the card machine and accept the South African randâs conversion rate at the time of payment.â
While the business cites the significant technical challenge they faced integrating the Pick n Pay QR code system into local digital wallet apps, the collaboration has yielded success by significantly increasing transaction volumes.
Itâs a great takeaway for Bitcoin Commerce - the demand for bitcoin payments is there if we are able to support the tech that customers are using currently.
Get lots more info on the story here:
https://bitcoinnews.com/adoption/pick-n-pay-bitcoin-payment-system/
NuBank aims to bring Bitcoin Lightning to 100M customers in Latin America
Brazil based Nubank announced a partnership with Lightning Service Provider LightSpark that will bring Bitcoin Lightning payments to its over 100M users.
According to CoinTelegraph, NuBank has 92 million users in Brazil, and 8 million in Columbia and Mexico. Their customers will also be getting user-friendly payment addresses using the LightSpark developed protocol Universal Money Addresses, or UMA.
Itâs the latest high-profile integration powered by LightSpark, which is aiming for enterprise grade Lightning adoption among companies that have stringent compliance requirements.
The UMA protocol itself seems designed around this compliance focus, which adds a compliance and user identification layer to the existing Lightning Address and LNURLp protocols.Â
Itâs an interesting development in Bitcoin, Lightning and also the rapidly developing of Lightning Service Providers business.
Check out lots more info in the CoinTelegraph article here:
Nubank brings Bitcoin Lightning to its 100M Latin American customers (cointelegraph.com)
USA Ex-President Trump to Speak at Bitcoin Conference
This story has been brewing for some time in the rumor mill, so it comes as little surprise that USA presidential candidate Donald Trump has been announced as a speaker at this yearsâ Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
That Bitcoin is receiving such positive signs of support from the USA Republican candidate could be seen as a hopeful sign for Bitcoin Commerce. One item on the regulatory wish list from our side would be to have bitcoin be treated more like any other currency and less like property. Â
However, in our opinion there is also a significant risk as well. The USA is controlled by two major parties at the national level. When one party supports a cause, often the other will take an opposing side (whether it makes sense or not).
Bitcoin Commerce in the USA would suffer if it were subject to wild swings in regulations depending on which party is in office.
Either way, love it or hate it, itâs a story thatâs worth keeping an eye on. Â More details here:Â
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/donald-trump-to-speak-at-bitcoin-2024-conference-in-nashvilleÂ
South Londonâs Tooting Market now has merchants accepting bitcoin
An initiative in the UK has local merchants at South Londonâs Tooting market accepting bitcoin payments.
Eight merchants at the market, including bars, restaurants and a vinyl record shop are now accepting bitcoin payments. Â
The Bitcoin Magazine article is a little light on the technical details. But one interesting find from the article is that the initiative was supported by Bridge 2 Bitcoin, a UK-based organization designed to build British circular bitcoin economies.
Could this be the beginnings of a Bitcoin Beach or Plan B style circular economy in London? Â
Lots more info here:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-now-accepted-at-south-londons-tooting-market
BTCPay Server simplifies Lightning Payments with NOSTR Wallet Connect
Adding easy support for merchants to connect Lightning Wallets has been a missing piece of the puzzle for some time.
Lightning enables the fast, economical payments that make Bitcoin payments for e-commerce and in-person retail really shine.
In the past, connecting Lightning nodes just to run setups like this has been out of reach for many merchants, both in budget and in technical complexity.
NOSTR Wallet connect aims to make this simpler by removing the need to run a Lightning node, and instead simply connecting a supported wallet. Â
Outside of the USA, this has been supported for some time by connecting a Blink (formerly Bitcoin Beach) wallet, however in the USA it remained an obstacle.
Now merchants around the world have a variety of wallets that can be connected. Mutiny and Strike Wallets are standout examples.Â
Check out the story and the full list of NOSTR connect supported wallets here:
Manage BTCPay Server with any Node or Wallet with NWC (getalby.com)
https://github.com/getAlby/awesome-nwc?tab=readme-ov-file#nwc-wallets
And our Bitcoin Commerce meme of the week.............đĽđĽđĽđĽđĽđĽ
đˇ Weâll be at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference Makerspace!
Are you headed to Nashville for the 2024 Bitcoin Conference this month? Weâll be there too and are excited to have a booth in the new Makerspace! Weâll be demoing some fun software that lets you win free sats for taking quizzes and surveys. Make sure to stop by and say hi!
đ§ Navigate Bitcoinâs Lightning Network in a New High Fee Era
The recent spike in Bitcoin prices and network traffic have made a unique combination of headaches and opportunities. Itâs also generated a lot of thinking on the future of scaling Bitcoin. Check out our deep dive here.
âĄTapping into Taproot Assets
Lightning Labs is working on a series of short demo videos walking through using the Taproot Assets Daemon, tapd, from install to mint to transfer to burn! Find the playlist on YouTube here.