{"id":63117,"date":"2014-07-17T11:21:37","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T09:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=63117"},"modified":"2014-07-17T11:35:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T09:35:06","slug":"bitcoin-just-got-bigger-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/63117\/bitcoin-just-got-bigger-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin just got bigger in SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up to 30,000 online merchants in South Africa can now accept digital currency Bitcoin, through a partnership between local Bitcoin exchange BitX and payment gateway, Payfast.<\/p>\n

The system is currently in beta testing mode, according to Payfast, but sellers can already start accepting Bitcoin payments from local and international buyers.<\/p>\n

“What makes this different from most Bitcoin platforms\/transactions, is that while buyers will make a Bitcoin payment, sellers will receive South African rand in their PayFast accounts (and then, bank accounts),” the group said.<\/p>\n

The payment company noted that sellers are not required to own a Bitcoin wallet, or even understand how the digital currency works, as payments are converted to rands.<\/p>\n

\"BitX<\/a>

BitX Tweet<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past five years Bitcoin has matured from being a theoretical crypto-currency to a viable transaction mechanism – though not without its controversies and downfalls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The currency is considered to be extremely volatile, and open to potential market manipulation through cyber attacks.<\/p>\n

“If a seller listed a product on their website for 1 BTC (at an exchange rate of R6,900) and someone purchased that item at a later date, when the rate of exchange is lower (say R6,000), they would ultimately lose out on the transaction (or have some explaining to do to their accountant),” Payfast noted.<\/p>\n

However, the company pointed to many advantages to using the system:<\/p>\n