MoneyBadger is payments infrastructure for Bitcoin and digital currencies. We connect the wallets your customers already use to South African merchants, so they can pay at your till or checkout by scanning a QR code or tapping a pay link, straight from their own wallet. Their wallet holds and sends the money; MoneyBadger does the connecting and settles you in Rand. We are not a wallet and never hold customer or merchant funds.

No. You never hold, touch, or custody any digital currency at any point. Your customer pays in Bitcoin or another digital currency, we convert it, and you receive the full Rand amount in your bank account or through your existing payment provider. From your side, it is an ordinary Rand payment.

They start with a normal Rand amount, exactly as they would for any other payment. They choose “Pay with Bitcoin,” then either scan a QR code or tap a pay link. This works in-store, at online checkout, or from a link you send by email, SMS, or WhatsApp. The payment opens in their own wallet app, which shows them how much to pay at the current rate. They approve with Face ID or a PIN, and it is done. The whole thing takes seconds.

We natively support Bitcoin over the Lightning Network, an open protocol that makes Bitcoin payments instant and extremely low-cost. Beyond that, we support every digital asset offered by our partner wallets, which between them list thousands of assets, including major stablecoins. Whatever the customer pays with, you receive Rand.

Minimums go as low as R1 (R25 in some cases). The maximum depends on the wallet, typically around USD 15,000, or roughly R100,000 to R200,000. We can make exceptions for larger transactions on request.

The moment your customer approves the payment, the funds move to MoneyBadger instantly and the sale is confirmed at the till. You are then paid out in Rand, typically the next business day, in line with your payment provider’s settlement cycle. We hold a Rand float with each of our partners and secure the Rand value of every approved payment up front, so the full amount is guaranteed.

It depends on the wallet. Some wallets set their own rate; in other cases MoneyBadger sets it. We aim to match the live market rate, applying a small conservative margin (up to about 1%) to protect against slippage and market movement between payment and settlement. There are no additional fees charged to the customer.

The Rand amount is locked at the point of sale, and you receive exactly that amount. MoneyBadger absorbs all volatility between the customer paying and you being settled. You are never exposed to the price of the digital currency.

Rand is the standard, and it is what merchants receive by default. If settling in Bitcoin or USD stablecoins would be useful to you, we would like to hear from you: we can scope custom work to build that for your business. Talk to us about what you need.

You pay your payment provider’s standard fee. MoneyBadger adds nothing on top: we handle the conversion and Rand settlement behind the scenes at no additional cost, and the rate generally lands at or below standard card rates. Each provider sets and updates its own pricing, so check theirs directly:

• Peach Payments: Bitcoin payments · fees
• Ozow: Bitcoin payments · pricing
• Zapper: Bitcoin payments · pricing

For large enterprises, you can skip the PSP and integrate our API directly, with negotiated rates and dedicated account management. Contact us to discuss.

There are none. Bitcoin and digital currency payments are irreversible once confirmed at the point of sale, so chargeback fraud and forced reversals simply do not exist on this rail. If a customer needs money back, that happens through a refund you control, not a reversal you cannot stop.

Several ways, and you can usually be live fast:

• In-store and desktop: a QR code at the point of sale.
• Online checkout: “Pay with Bitcoin” runs through your existing checkout on Ozow or Peach Payments. On desktop the customer scans a QR code; on mobile they tap to pay.
• Scan to Pay and Zapper: work for all merchants by scanning the QR code.
• Custom build: we offer a simple, secure REST API that integrates with any language, platform, or framework, plus ready-made plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and Prestashop. We also provide a customisable hosted checkout page that works on desktop and mobile, lets the customer pick their wallet, then shows a QR code or pay link. Zapper can also supply an SDK for mobile pay links. API documentation is here.

For Scan to Pay and Zapper, no. It works for all merchants out of the box. For Ozow and Peach Payments it is not a separate integration either, but you do need to switch it on as an alternative payment method. You can activate it instantly, and it appears immediately as “Pay with Bitcoin.” We recommend adding a clear “Pay with Bitcoin” button at the top level of your checkout so customers do not have to drill down to find it.

We generally onboard new merchants through our existing partners, each of which runs MoneyBadger Bitcoin and digital currency payments on its own platform:

• Ozow
• Peach Payments
• Zapper
• Scan to Pay
• Ecentric and Electrum (payment infrastructure partners)

We will point you to the right one and help you activate. Pick n Pay was the first African retailer to accept Bitcoin and digital currencies at the till through MoneyBadger; you can see how that works here.

Exactly like any other alternative payment method with your existing provider. You see Rand amounts only, never the underlying currency. You reconcile the Rand settlement and the fees the same way you already do. There is nothing new to learn.

Luno, VALR, Binance, Bybit, and AltCoinTrader, plus any wallet that supports the Bitcoin Lightning Network, an open network supported by hundreds of wallets (including Blink, Blitz, Aqua, Breez, Alby, and Strike). Anyone can download a Lightning wallet, deposit Bitcoin, and make payments that are instant and effectively free aside from a tiny network fee. See the full directory of supported wallets.

They scan a QR code or tap a pay link. The payment loads in their wallet showing the amount to pay. Some wallets also display the exchange rate. The customer confirms with Face ID or a PIN, and it is done.

Almost never, and less so every month. In most cases your customer pays directly from the wallet they already use: their own app reads the QR code or pay link and completes the payment. MoneyBadger is the infrastructure working in the background, not an app the customer has to install.

Whether the app is involved comes down to the kind of code being scanned:

• Online checkout, and Ozow or Peach Payments card machines (POS): no app, ever. The customer is shown a code their wallet already understands. For Bitcoin Lightning it is a standard Lightning invoice that every Lightning wallet can read; for exchange wallets such as Luno, Binance, VALR and Bybit, it is a code their own app reads directly.
• In-store codes from Pick n Pay, Zapper and Scan to Pay: these use their own proprietary formats. We originally built the MoneyBadger app to read them and hand the payment to a Bitcoin wallet. Most Lightning wallets have since built our QR technology in and now read these codes directly, so the app is increasingly unnecessary.

Some customers keep the MoneyBadger app alongside their wallet anyway, because it is simply the fastest way to pay: it opens straight to the camera and scans instantly, with no menu to dig through, and it adds tipping and refunds for Bitcoin Lightning wallets. Get it on the App Store or Google Play.

Either way, MoneyBadger is never a wallet and never holds funds. It only passes the payment to your customer’s existing wallet, which is a separate app where their Bitcoin or digital currency stays.

Yes, and this is one of the strongest reasons to offer it. Global exchanges your customers already use are supported: Binance has over 300 million users worldwide, and Bybit Pay has expanded into South Africa through MoneyBadger. Paying this way opens you up to foreign visitors in South Africa, expats buying for family back home, and overseas customers ordering for export, none of whom need a South African bank account or card.

MoneyBadger’s crypto asset services are provided by MoneyBadger (Pty) Ltd (Registration No. 2021/554727/07), which operates under the FSCA exemption as an active Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP), with its FSP licence application (number 53482) in progress. Our full FAIS statutory disclosure is available here. Bitcoin and digital currency payments in South Africa are moving toward full regulation, and our authorisation reflects that transitional stage.

Yes. Because you receive Rand, it is an ordinary Rand sale in your books, and your VAT treatment is unchanged. As with any tax matter, confirm the specifics with your own accountant.

No. Those obligations sit with the customer’s wallet provider and with MoneyBadger, which is registered as an accountable institution under FICA. Accepting these payments, settled in Rand, adds no AML, KYC, or Travel Rule burden on your side.

No. Because you only ever receive Rand, the legal-tender classification is irrelevant to you. It is a normal Rand sale. That classification matters to regulators and to wallets, not to a merchant settling in Rand.

Paying with a digital currency means a customer is disposing of an asset, which can be a capital gains event for them. South Africa gives individuals an annual capital gains exclusion (currently R40,000), so smaller gains often net to no tax, but the position depends on each person’s circumstances. This is the customer’s responsibility, and their wallet provider’s to communicate, not yours. In practice we see strong uptake and very few customers raise it.

You stay in control. The customer requests a refund from you. If you approve it, it flows back through your payment provider in Rand, and the customer receives the Rand value back in their digital currency at the exchange rate on the day of the refund. This means the customer will not get back the same quantity they paid; they get the Rand value converted at the refund-day rate.

We embed the exact amount in the QR code or pay link, so the customer never types an amount. This removes under- and overpayment in normal use. In the rare event it happens, an overpayment is refunded, and an underpayment means the customer completes the balance.

The customer’s wallet simply will not approve the transaction, and they are shown what to adjust to complete it. Nothing leaves their wallet and no partial payment occurs.

None. We secure the Rand for settlement within our float limits before approving the payment, so the Rand value is committed up front. If float were not available, the transaction would not be approved rather than leaving you exposed. Maintaining float for a 100% settlement success rate is a top operational priority for us.

Raise it with your payment provider or with us directly at info@moneybadger.co.za or +27 87 250 2 250. We respond within 48 hours and can contact the customer directly to resolve the issue.

It is true that few customers ask for it up front. But the audience is large: an estimated 6 million South Africans hold Bitcoin or digital currencies, and South Africa’s ownership per capita is among the highest in the world. Where it is offered, uptake has been consistent and growing since our first rollout with Pick n Pay in 2023, and customers actively search for places that accept Bitcoin. We have built a public map and merchant directory specifically so they can find you. Merchants who put up simple “Bitcoin accepted” signage tend to see noticeably higher uptake, and customers frequently post about it and spread the word themselves.

Yes. We will promote merchants to our own community and across the Bitcoin chat and WhatsApp groups where these customers gather, free of charge. We can also introduce you to our wallet partners and their large audiences (Luno reports several million South African users, and Binance has over 300 million globally with a strong local base). For larger campaigns we can help you design and launch them, though as a startup we would need those funded.

Rather than formal case studies, there is extensive independent press coverage of MoneyBadger in action. A few examples:

• Bybit Pay expands to South Africa with MoneyBadger (April 2026)
• Ozow adds digital currency payments via MoneyBadger (March 2026)
• South Africans can now pay at 650,000 stores via Scan to Pay (October 2025)
• Pick n Pay is doing R1 million a month in digital currency transactions (TechCentral)

More coverage is on our news page.