Why South Africans Don't Trust Bitcoin for Utility Bills

     In Africa, few people use Bitcoin payment services due to distrust of Bitcoin as a currency. Bankymoon CEO Lorien Gamaroff told CoinTelegraph that African residents choose to use Bitcoin to pay for utility bills because they do not trust cryptocurrencies. However, it may be a perfect alternative to the traditional banking system, especially considering that most of the population in Africa does not have bank accounts.

     South African startup Bankymoon offers different solutions for paying utility bills using Bitcoin and other known cryptocurrencies. They even offer the option of paying utility bills through smart contracts. This way, users do not need to involve a third party when making payments, thus avoiding additional fees.

     However, this solution is not popular among South Africans. According to Lorien Gamaroff, the reason why their utility bill payment system has not been widely used in Africa is that most people have not heard of Bitcoin. Those who know about it believe that Bitcoin is associated with hacked exchanges and underground markets, so people's confidence in the currency is low.

     The prospects for this payment system remain promising as 80% of Africans do not have bank accounts and most are already accustomed to the concept of mobile payments, so perhaps it is just a matter of time.

     There are already several companies providing mobile payments in Africa, such as M-Pesa, MFS Africa and Safaricom. Obviously, their solutions are more popular and widely used in Africa than Bankymoon's Bitcoin solution.