Payments service provider Ecentric, has announced a partnership with MoneyBadger, combining Ecentric’s payment infrastructure with MoneyBadger’s ability to bring Bitcoin payments into mainstream retail.
Ecentric manages the card payments of two-thirds of South Africa’s listed retailers, while making inroads into the mid-tier market and in-person payment solutions. MoneyBadger’s platform launched in Pick n Pay in 2023 and today processes thousands of transactions monthly.
Statista estimates that, in 2025, more than 10% of South Africans own cryptocurrency. It anticipates that there will be more than seven million local crypto users by 2026, most of them millennials. Many of these young, tech-savvy people are already using crypto to make purchases, in line with a global shift towards crypto becoming a mainstream payment method.
“Ecentric takes the pain out of payments for retailers of all sizes,” says Inge Oosthuizen, product owner at Ecentric. “We enable our partners to accept various types of payments, and out in the market, there is no doubt about the demand for crypto payments. Through our extensive network and highly developed software, our partnership with MoneyBadger enables more retailers to tap into the rapidly growing crypto market, while not having to worry about complicated integrations or dealing with the complexities of cryptocurrencies. MoneyBadger enables customers to pay in crypto and for the retailer to be paid, immediately, in rands.”
Ecentric’s OmniHub platform makes crypto payments simple and accessible for merchants. It offers minimal integration effort because of its plug-and-play API design, resulting in a seamless connection to existing payment infrastructure. OmniHub also provides retailers with reporting and reconciliation features.
Carel van Wyk, CEO of MoneyBadger, says the partnership was the next logical step in the company’s journey. “Our Bitcoin-to-rand solution works via existing QR code technology, a game-changer because it is understood in the market and, crucially, by tellers. This makes it easier for the growing number of Bitcoin owners who want to spend their Bitcoin in day-to-day life, as well as hold Bitcoin as an investment vehicle. As the Bitcoin economy grows and more Bitcoin communities are established, we expect a greater demand for ecosystems that facilitate Bitcoin payments. Our partnership with Ecentric, with its comprehensive ecosystem and extensive network of retailers, brings MoneyBadger’s functionality to more businesses – and therefore more consumers.”