Mainstreaming crypto: Binance boosts digital payments

Binance Pay has gone live at tens of thousands of South African merchants – and to mark the rollout, it’s offering 50% cash back on transactions at participating merchants.
by
September 15, 2025
2 mins read
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Binance Pay has extended its reach in South Africa, enabling cryptocurrency payments at more than 31,000 merchants nationwide through its integration with Zapper. This development allows consumers to use digital currencies for everyday purchases at various establishments, including FlySafair, Dis-Chem, KFC drive-throughs and Yuppiechef.

Beyond Zapper, Binance Pay is also available at other popular merchants such as Pick n Pay and Bootlegger.

To mark the rollout, Binance Pay is offering 50% cash back on all transactions at participating merchants starting September 9 2025.

“Binance Pay is about giving South Africans freedom and flexibility in how they spend their money,” says Yande Nomvete, representative for Binance South Africa. “Through our partnership with Zapper, tens of thousands of merchants are now available to users, and the cashback promotion encourages first-time crypto payments.” Mike Bryer, CEO of Zapper, adds: “Our collaboration with Binance Pay enhances the payment options available to our extensive merchant network, facilitating seamless and secure transactions for both consumers and businesses.”

Enabling seamless payments

The rollout is supported by MoneyBadger, a South African fintech firm that simplifies cryptocurrency payments for businesses. This partnership allows merchants to accept cryptocurrency seamlessly, with settlements in South African rand, helping both consumers and businesses participate in the growing digital payments ecosystem.

For Zapper merchants, users should request to pay with Zapper and then scan the Binance Pay QR code from their Binance app (Lite mode, top-right corner). First-time users must set up a Pay PIN and complete email and app verification, while returning users can pay quickly using their PIN or face verification.

Driving crypto adoption in South Africa

Over the past few weeks, Binance has seen a significant surge in South Africa, with tens of thousands of new users signing up and a rapid increase in transactions. The expansion reflects a broader trend of crypto adoption in the country, where consumers are exploring digital currencies as part of everyday payments.

Globally, Binance Pay’s merchant network now surpasses 63,000 merchants accepting crypto payments, and the platform has processed more than 300-million transactions to date.

Industry trends and market insights

A Mastercard-commissioned report estimates the continent’s digital payments economy will reach $1.5-trillion by 2030, driven by mobile wallets, digital banking and fintech innovations.

In South Africa, card payments are projected to exceed $158bn in 2025, reflecting a shift from cash to digital transactions. Additionally, the South African Reserve Bank’s payment ecosystem modernisation initiative aims to make digital payments faster, simpler and more secure.

Cryptocurrency adoption is also rising. According to Chainalysis, Africa experienced the fastest relative growth in crypto users in 2025, with a 52% increase in on-chain crypto activity, led by countries including Kenya and South Africa.

About Binance Pay

Binance Pay is a seamless, borderless, and secure cryptocurrency payment feature on the Binance app, allowing users and merchants to pay, send and receive crypto worldwide without incurring gas fees. With support for over 400 cryptocurrencies, it caters to more than 45-million users and 32,000 merchants. Trusted by over 275-million people across 100+ countries, Binance stands as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and registered users.

About Zapper

Zapper is a leading South African payment platform that enables seamless and secure digital transactions for consumers and merchants. Trusted by thousands of businesses nationwide, Zapper simplifies payments, supports settlements in South African rand, and helps drive the adoption of innovative digital payment solutions across the country.

About MoneyBadger

MoneyBadger makes bitcoin payments safe and easy, whether online or in physical stores. Merchants are settled in rands or bitcoin. Its merchant API supports Lightning Network transactions as well as all major wallet providers and crypto tokens they support. Its universal translator app bridges the gap between legacy point-of-sale (POS) systems and bitcoin payments via a QR code scanner. 

MoneyBadger was founded in Stellenbosch by industry stalwarts Carel van Wyk (ex-Luno and SnapScan), Carl Kritzinger (ex KnowBe4 and FireWorks) and Brent Petersen (ex Easy Crypto) in 2022. Its first major client was Pick n Pay, which debuted crypto payments in February 2023. 

Top image: Freepik.com.

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