- Luno, a cryptocurrency exchange, has expanded its platform payment support in South Africa, increasing the number of merchants facilitating crypto payments.
- Partnering with Zapper, Luno announced that its customers can now transact using crypto at over 31,000 merchants nationwide using the Luno Pay app wherever Zapper QR codes are offered as a payment method at merchant points of sale or online.
- The offer is valid for payments up to R100,000 (~$6,000). Its integration with Zapper allows Luno’s customer base to pay vendors such as FlySafair, fuel stations, and educational institutions.
Luno business development manager Tarris Arnold stated that Luno is the first crypto asset service provider in South Africa to collaborate with Zapper, adding that the ability to pay at such several merchants using crypto is a significant step towards the original vision of using crypto to pay for goods and services.
Zapper CEO Mike Bryer said that the partnership forms part of Zapper’s mission to help merchants grow their businesses, highlighting the partnership will help it expand its payments ecosystem to add over five million more South African users.
VALR, another crypto exchange, has reportedly allowed its users to pay using cryptocurrencies on Geewiz, an online shopping platform.
In April 2024, VALR announced that it had received regulatory approval (Category I and II) from the South African Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA).
Luno also received financial service provider approval, and Zignaly also announced that it had received Category II – Discretionary Financial Service Provider (FSP) approval.
At the time, the financial regulator confirmed that 75 institutions had been approved to operate as crypto asset service providers (CASPs) after it had announced in March 2024 that it would do so.
In other news, in a move that may suggest increased use cases for digital assets, Visa, the global digital payment services provider, which claims to have a global network of more than 15,000 financial institutions, announced a new product, the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), to help financial institutions issue and manage fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks.
With this, Visa said it is helping to bridge existing fiat currencies with blockchains. While it is within testnet, Visa stated that it intends to launch an initial live pilot with select customers in 2025 on the public Ethereum blockchain.
