South African fintech company, Stitch, has launched a new payment solution called "Pay with crypto" that allows businesses to accept cryptocurrency as payment. This move comes as the use of cryptocurrency for retail payments continues to grow on the continent.

With an estimated 7.7 million South Africans currently owning cryptocurrency, Stitch's new payment method aligns with the increasing trend of using digital currencies for transactions in goods and services. The company aims to tap into this market by offering businesses the ability to cater to cryptocurrency holders while mitigating the risks associated with volatile prices.

This development would help the company assist South African businesses in tapping into the growing usage of crypto for payment, Stitch’s President, Junaid Dadan said in an official statement. “South Africa has seen one of the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption globally. A significant number of people prefer using their crypto holdings for transactions. With our new ‘Pay with crypto’ option, we are thrilled to enable our clients to cater to this market segment, while also mitigating the risks associated with cryptocurrency volatility,” Dadan said.

Since its launch in February 2021, Stitch has raised $52 million and enables enterprises to accept, manage, and disburse funds through its suite of products. The Cape Town-based fintech, with presence in Johannesburg and Lagos, does this by company providing an application programming interface (API) service, which enables seamless integration between businesses and their customers' financial accounts for easy transactions. Its impressive client portfolio includes major names such as MultiChoice, MTN, The Foschini Group, Standard Bank's SnapScan, and Yoco.

Using Stitch's "Pay with crypto" feature, customers can now make payments directly from their cryptocurrency wallets. The service supports deposits and transactions using crypto from VALR or Binance wallets, and customers can also send Bitcoin or Ethereum directly. At checkout, Stitch converts the cryptocurrency to South African Rand (ZAR), ensuring that the merchant receives the payment in ZAR on the next business day.

Stitch emphasizes that businesses can easily integrate the "Pay with crypto" option into their services, making it suitable for various industries such as online marketplaces, e-commerce companies, gaming and trading platforms, and local and international travel service providers.

Blake Player, VALR's Head of Growth, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating that this integration expands the spending options for VALR customers in South Africa's e-commerce sector. “The response to working with the VALR Pay product has been extraordinary, and we anticipate a significant increase in crypto payment volumes as its acceptance grows,” Player said.