These small towns in South Africa are kissing the rand goodbye

Several small towns along the Garden Route in the Western Cape have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in South Africa, and the most notable example is Witsand.

Witsand is a small coastal town in the Western Cape, located alongside the Breede River estuary. It is a growing destination for both locals and tourists.

The town is known as a water sport and adventure destination with sandy beaches and picturesque Cape Fynbos landscape, with a population of around 450 to 500 residents.

However, the town has also become a hub for Bitcoin adoption in South Africa, with most merchants accepting the currency.

Speaking to BizNews, Eldry Hill, a resident of Witsand, explained how the town has embraced Bitcoin as a transactional tool despite the South African rand remaining the official legal tender.

She noted that while the town can’t change legal tender, which is still the rand, it can use Bitcoin as a tool to transact.

She explained that Bitcoin provides an alternative way to send money and conduct transactions, making payments more direct and eliminating the need for a bank.

“It works incredibly easy, and it’s just a newer technology, pretty much like Zoom was a new technology during Covid-19,” said Hill.

While Witsand remains a small town, the adoption of Bitcoin is growing among local businesses. Due to the town’s small population, Bitcoin is used more per person in Witsand than almost anywhere else in the world.

It’s a place where people can pay for nearly everything with Bitcoin—food, vacation rentals, gym visits, mini-golf, and water sports.

“You can get your boat serviced in Bitcoin, you can get fuel in Bitcoin, and you can even tip staff in Bitcoin; they all have their own Bitcoin wallets,” Hill added.

Other towns along South Africa’s Garden Route are also embracing Bitcoin. Hill noted that it has actually grown quite a lot.

Over 70 places in Plettenberg Bay now accept Bitcoin, and many others in Stellenbosch, where several new startups have cropped up.

“In Plettenberg Bay, the trend is accelerating rapidly. Three weeks ago, they had 20 shops, then 40, then 50. Now they’re on 75 today, but it keeps changing,” said Hill.

It’s not only small towns that are taking note of the growing adoption of Bitcoin. Major retailers like Pick n Pay offer their customers the option to purchase products with cryptocurrency.

Pick n Pay is seeing roughly R1 million in monthly sales from shoppers using crypto to buy and pay for goods and services—up from R25,000 in the months after launching the functionality in February 2024.

With the South African rand having lost significant value against the US dollar in recent years, Hill sees Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and unstable monetary policies.

“The nice thing about Bitcoin is that it is a hedge against irresponsible monetary policy. And that’s not me saying it—that’s actually BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink.”

She believes that Bitcoin can help stabilise South Africa’s economy. “I want South Africa to flourish. One way to do that is to create a stable economic system.”

She added that it’s challenging for South Africa to create an economically stable system if your money fluctuates.”

Another key advantage of Bitcoin is its ability to bypass the traditional banking system while maintaining a stable store of value.

Tourists, in particular, benefit from not having to exchange currency. “You can now come and visit the Garden Route, and you don’t have to exchange your currency; you can just keep it in Bitcoin,” Hill added.

However, all transactions are still recorded in rand. “We still have rand, so everything is priced in rand. It gets recorded in rand, but the underlying asset is just different—it’s Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin Witsand