Let them buy bread - with Bitcoin!
Why South Africans should be allowed to buy everyday essentials with Bitcoin.
By Carel van Wyk, CEO of MoneyBadger · 29 September 2026
Imagine someone from a South African township walking into a grocery retailer, picking up a bread roll and scanning the QR code at the till to pay with their phone. They pay in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network from a private, self-custodial wallet. They control the Bitcoin keys themselves, much like holding cash in their own pocket. Meanwhile, the retailer receives rand through its existing payment provider.
This kind of payment already happens today, but the South African Reserve Bank is proposing to ban private-wallet payments like these under its new exchange-control regime for crypto companies.
The draft Crypto Asset Manual calls these wallets “non-custodial” and marks transfers from them into Authorised Crypto Asset Service Providers as not allowed. It makes no exception for buying bread or electricity tokens with Bitcoin, which thousands of people already do every month.
We view this approach as fundamentally flawed.? Holding key ownership does not place a wallet overseas. Simply using a private wallet for a local transaction should not trigger exchange-control restrictions or necessitate routine reporting to the Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv) of the SARB.
MoneyBadger helps people take part in the formal economy by enabling them to spend their Bitcoin on everyday goods and services. We are asking policymakers to preserve that choice. We collect and convert the Bitcoin received at a rate guaranteed for a short payment window. The merchant receives the agreed rand amount in their South African bank account. We do not send the payment abroad or hold funds on the customer’s behalf.
True financial inclusion requires offering people practical means to earn, save, and transact by utilizing payment tools already available to them. In Mossel Bay, for example, Bitcoin Ekasi has built a local circular economy where people earn and spend Bitcoin. MoneyBadger helps connect that economy to formal retailers, allowing people to spend these earnings directly from their private wallets, while merchants receive rand.
SARB already distinguishes local crypto payments from cross-border payments in its joint communication with the FSCA on 28 May 2026. We call upon the Reserve Bank to uphold this distinction within its final framework, ensuring domestic transactions remain classified as local even when made via private wallets.
We are asking for four changes:
Keep local payments local: Ensure that payments using private wallets remain permitted, along with converting those funds to rand and settling them with local businesses. Holding private keys shouldn't result in a local payment being misclassified as cross-border or prohibited altogether.
Keep everyday spending out of routine FinSurv reporting: We propose protection for genuine consumer payments up to R50,000 or even more, adjusted annually for inflation. This uses the current cash-reporting threshold as a benchmark for a separate consumer-payment exemption. Most payments we process are around R150 or less, but people also pay municipal taxes and buy travel tickets.
Let licensed local providers do this work: Domestic payments should not require a further FinSurv appointment or dependence on a provider with that appointment. The final rules must clearly allow ordinary licensed crypto providers to serve this local market without extra authorisation from the SARB.
Publish the evidence: SARB must explain why a blanket private wallet restriction is needed and what less restrictive options were considered.
Providers must keep records and meet their duties to report suspicious activity. MoneyBadger already disallows cash withdrawals against payments received over the Lightning Network. A private wallet is no reason to block a legitimate local transaction or send its details to FinSurv. The final rules must protect people’s ability to pay for everyday essentials without surrendering control of their funds. Let people buy bread with their Bitcoin!
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