South Africa’s fastest growing online retailer, takealot.com, in partnership with PayFast, has announced that it will be accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment from its customers. Bitcoin is a software based payment system or decentralised virtual currency.

takealot.com customers who wish to pay using Bitcoin will need to select “instant EFT” as their payment method, then select the option to pay with Bitcoin, and follow the instructions to complete the transaction.

“At takealot.com we strive to be innovative and customer centric. Offering Bitcoin is another example of how we strive to achieve these ambitions,” says co-CEO and CTO Willem van Biljon.

The launch of Bitcoin as a payment method follows quickly on the release of another new payment method by takealot.com this week, Masterpass.

“We would like to thank Payfast, one of our payment partners, for making the ability to provide Bitcoin a reality,” Van Biljon says.

takealot.com will continue to display its products and services in South African rand. Customers who choose to pay using Bitcoin will be shown the Bitcoin amount payable for their goods during the “instant EFT” checkout process through PayFast, as well as the current Bitcoin/ZAR exchange rate.

The transaction itself takes place on BitX, a South African Bitcoin exchange, and once PayFast receives confirmation from BitX that the funds have been successfully received, takealot.com receives payment for the goods in South African rand.