Witsand, a Small Coastal Town in South Africa, Has Helped Lead the Charge for Bitcoin Adoption in the Region

The small coastal town of Witsand, off the Western Cape Garden Route between Heidelberg and Swellendam, has helped lead the charge for Bitcoin adoption in the region.

The small coastal town of Witsand, off the Western Cape Garden Route between Heidelberg and Swellendam, has helped lead the charge for Bitcoin adoption in the region.

Spearheaded by Witsand resident and programmer Edwin Jones, the “Bitcoin Witsand” movement has grown from one or two merchants to most of the town’s businesspeople accepting Bitcoin.

Witsand recently made local headlines after South African journalists discovered a video by travel journalist and Bitcoin evangelist Joe Nakamoto (real name Joseph Hall).

Nakamoto visited the town in January last year and published a video on YouTube about his experience a few months later.

He showed that he could use Bitcoin in Witsand to pay for groceries at a convenience store, meals at restaurants, gym access, petrol, and even entertainment like water sports.

Nakamoto also said that several accommodation establishments accepted Bitcoin and interviewed a local boat captain who adopted the cryptocurrency.

In the video, Jones told Nakamoto that growth was initially very slow, with three Witsand merchants agreeing to accept Bitcoin in three years.

However, in 2023, Surging interest in Bitcoin led to 27 or 28 merchants in Witsand to begin accepting bitcoin and by April 2025, 45 establishments in the town are listed on BTC Mapas accepting bitcoin.

Jones said Bitcoin Witsand now has little room for growth, as only a few holdouts do not wish to accept the cryptocurrency as payment.

Instead, he sees their role changing to become an example of Bitcoin working in real life, like Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador and Bitcoin Ekasi in Mossel Bay.

In an interview with the Connect the World podcast, Jones downplayed his role in creating Bitcoin Witsand, saying the town’s businesses got the ball rolling.

“Bitcoin Witsand existed long before we gave it a name,” Jones said.

“It was just having conversations with friends, and as the local business started understanding bitcoin, they actually demanded we start getting the technology in place.”

Jones said local business owners were curious about bitcoin and were technical solutions they could use in their businesses or shops.

Fanning a spark into a bonfire

As curiosity and interest increased, Bitcoin Witsand became more intentional in its approach to encourage onboarding, including tackling people’s fears about exchanging bitcoins for rands.

Those details were shared by Jones’s first convert, Eldry Hill, who spoke at the Adopting Bitcoin conference in Cape Town earlier this year.

Hill is the owner of Ellie’s on Main, a local restaurant that she and her partner opened after they moved to Witsand a few years ago.

She has since taken over some of Jones’s advocacy work and public speaking engagements for Bitcoin Witsand, as the programmer recently became a father.

She explained that a significant concern for shops considering accepting bitcoin was what they would do with the bitcoin they receive at the end of the month.

Shopkeepers need rands to service loans, pay suppliers, cover operating costs, or pay their children’s school fees. They aren’t necessarily interested in holding bitcoin long-term or dealing with converting it frequently.

To help provide local business owners with the reassurances they need, Hill said they undertook several initiatives.

The first was providing small bitcoin-based loans to local businesses. She stressed that this wasn’t a blanket or systemic solution. It only works in a small community where people know each other and there’s an element of trust.

Using the example of a local gym, Hill said the lender could chat with the owner about how they could improve the gym, perhaps by buying a new treadmill.

The individual hoping to create a circular bitcoin economy would then lend the gym owner some of their own money in bitcoin, putting their money where their mouth is.

The key to the model is the repayment mechanism. The idea is to encourage the business to accept bitcoin for their services and then repay the loan in bitcoin directly.

In addition, Hill said they provided a way for people to swap their bitcoins for fiat currency at a guaranteed exchange rate, which helped people overcome their fear about the volatility of the bitcoin price.

Backlash against Bitcoin Witsand

The adoption of bitcoin in Witsand – and the attention it has attracted – has not been without controversy.

Many of Witsand’s 600 residents remain skeptical about bitcoin and those promoting its adoption in the picturesque town.

Concerns include that a few individuals with vested interests are driving a personal agenda, and that the attention on the town would bring unwanted development.

Several of the townsfolk seem completely against growth and prosperity