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0 sats \ 6 replies \ @DarthCoin 17h \ on: Is South Africa Really Leading in Bitcoin Usage (Replacing Fiat) for Retailers? bitcoin
I find more interesting the case for Germany / Austria.
Opago's work of onboarding each merchant one by one and explaining them how Bitcoin works is a giant proof of work.
Just check out here how many are: https://stacker.news/OPAGO_PAY/posts
The case in SA is that most of them are using some kind of intermediaries and they have no idea that they accept BTC. That means most of merchants not even get the BTC. Yes you can say that for the spending user is a good experience to pay with sats, but without a proper education for merchants to keep those sats and/or pay their employees/suppliers is almost for nothing.
I could say that is even against the ethos of Bitcoin:

You are missing the forest for the trees. We have on-boarded hundreds of businesses and thousands of people to using Bitcoin directly. Some businesses pay their staff in it, some HODL, others sell immediately, some do a combination of the those.
Yes, using intermediaries is not ideal, but it's very pragmatic. They're catalysts to giving normies exposure to Bitcoin in a "safe" and familiar fashion, which we use to demonstrate, practically, the benefits of dealing directly in Bitcoin.
The intermediaries are a valuable part of a multi-pronged approach to onboard everyone to (eventually) full self-custodial Bitcoin usage, in truly circular economies. It's a process, and it's in progress.
SA is very far removed from Germany's environment of abundance. This is Africa. The same approaches won't work here. We need to be very pragmatic, and can't always afford to be idealistic first.
For instance many poor people save in stable sats. That's most definitely "against the ethos of Bitcoin", but they do so out of pure necessity: they literally cannot afford the fiat-measured volatility of Bitcoin. And by "literally" I mean they can't buy food if the price drops 20%.
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I agree there. The volatility is a necessary part of the price discovery that is happening and hopefully it will come down to the level of gold. But many poor people cannot afford it.
I see it this way. If I need to spend it in next 30 months, I will not put it in Bitcoin.
But my financial position allows me that 30 months horizon, for some it may be thirty days.
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maybe you can fool those clueless merchants but not Darth...
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You are super abrasive and sarcastic 🤣
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Because I have a sharp mind and a very sensitive
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Who is lowwercase_Daniel?
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