Ozow has become the latest payments provider in South Africa to accept payments in cryptocurrencies, indicating the growing acceptance of blockchain technologies in the mainstream economy. Ozow’s payment platform, which is accepted by companies such as DStv, Zando, NetFlorist, HiFi Corp, Takealot, TFG and Dis-Chem, enables users to make online payments through a mobile browser or desktop without a credit card. On Friday, the Cape Town-based payments company announced the official integration of cryptocurrency as a primary payment option on its platform.
Through a partnership with MoneyBadger, a local crypto payments provider, customers shopping online will be able to pay for goods directly from their crypto wallets, including Bitcoin Lightning and major exchange wallets such as Luno, VALR and Binance, with settlement in rand. Blockchain, the technology that powers cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, has until recently been regarded as fringe and associated with finance scams. But in recent years it has gained mainstream acceptance, driven in large part by big fund managers such as BlackRock.
Ozow’s move is part of a wave of crypto integrations announced in the past few months by legacy financial service houses and new fintech operators. Most recently, Capitec signed a deal that enables its customers to fund Binance wallets through its banking app. Earlier last month,Vodacom and Safaricom’s M-Pesamobile money platform partnered with Abu Dhabi blockchain technology firm ADI Foundation to help grow its cross-border offering through stablecoin.
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In October 2025,Absa signed a deal with payments infrastructure provider Rippleto provide digital asset custody services to its customers in South Africa. Crypto trading platforms Binance and Luno have led the way in enabling consumers to pay for everyday items with cryptocurrencies. In June, Luno reported more than R20m had been spent through its retail payments platform Luno Pay since its launch in November 2024.
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