Citizens of South Africa will be able to pay their traffic fines with bitcoins

The traffic fines administrator based in Alberton, (South Africa), Fines4U, announced that it will allow users who wish to pay their fines with bitcoins, in an important milestone of adoption of the cryptocurrency for the country.

The owner of Fines4U, Cornelia van Niekerk, said the decision has generated an overwhelming response, but to request information about bitcoin as an asset class and not as a method of payment. The company administers fines on behalf of approximately 500 companies and some 8,000 natural persons throughout the country.

I treat many clients daily, many of which are large companies. Suddenly, everyone wants to get more information about Bitcoin.

Cornelia van Niekerk

Owner, Fines4U

South African interest in Bitcoin has already been expressed previously in the increase in transactions through local exchange houses such as Luno, and the launch of Fines4U is a direct response to the attention that the cryptoactive ones have gained.

According to Moneyweb, van Niekerk has been involved in bitcoin since June, so he decided to offer customers the opportunity to use their cryptocurrencies as a means of payment through Fines4U. The company will determine the outstanding amount of the fines in national currency and will offer the equivalent value in bitcoins, which will be valid for a limited time. Fines4U will receive the payment through its own Luno wallet and will deposit the rands on behalf of the client to cancel the fines.

The immediacy and low cost are some of the advantages offered by this adoption measure. However, the possibility that the price of bitcoin down is a risk, although Van Niekerk said he is willing to run it.

In mid-August, Luno reported record numbers of cryptoactive exchange on its platform: up to 2,241,826 BTC were traded over a weekend. According to the figures of Crypto Compare, the bitcoin market cap in South Africa is just over one billion rands, that is, almost 76 million dollars.

Thus, the volumes traded through Luno within the South African territory are comparable with the exchanges in the main bitcoin markets such as Asia or the United States. Recently, in addition, the exchange office announced the addition of ether to the list of translatable cryptoactives on its platform.

On the other hand, in September, the national retailer Pick 'n' Pay reported that it would accept bitcoins as a payment method for a limited time, in order to familiarize customers with the experience of using these cryptoactives. As we can see, the South African interest in cryptocurrencies is growing and the decision of Fines4U only reaffirms it.