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Before I even arrived at this year’s Africa Bitcoin Conference, I saw attendees posting about Tando, a new Kenya-based payments app that allows users to spend their sats with merchants who don’t accept bitcoin.
Just arrived in Nairobi 🇰🇪🛬 & the 1st thing I see as I exit is the @tando_me sign
LET’S GO @AfroBitcoinOrg 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/zhPSP2dTH8
— OKIN | Nikolai Tjongarero (@OKIN_17) December 8, 2024
“How is this possible?”, you might ask. Well, let me explain.
To use Tando, you simply download the app and prepare to pay any merchant who accepts payments via M-PESA, Kenya’s mobile money service. (Notice I didn’t say you had to go through a set up or KYC process, as neither are necessary — Tando doesn’t collect any identifying information from its users.)
When the merchant presents you with your bill, you simply click on the “Send Money” square on the app’s home screen. From there, you enter the mobile number tied to the M-PESA account to which you’re sending money and then input the amount of Kenyan shillings you want to send.
The app automatically calculates the amount of sats it will take to cover the shilling amount you’ve input. You then click on the green “Create Invoice” button to obtain a Lightning invoice. After that, you copy the invoice and pay it via your preferred Lightning wallet. Tando receives the sats and then settles the bill in shillings with the merchant within seconds.
I can barely count how many times I’ve watched Bitcoiners use Tando to pay restaurant bills or taxi fares since I’ve been here. (I’ve been to a lot of restaurants and have ridden in a lot of taxis since I’ve arrived.)
Now, I know what some of you are thinking: Tando interfaces with a fiat payment system, which means it should be excommunicated from the Church of Bitcoin.
But before you allow yourself to entertain that kind of thinking, please consider the following notions:
You’re a loser.Here in Kenya, much like in other parts of Africa, people actually use bitcoin for payments.When you show someone how to use Tando, it provides you with an opportunity to show the merchant what Bitcoin is as you show them how the app works. (I watched Gorilla Sats’ Brindon Mwiine masterfully do this for a waitress at a conference after party.)M-PESA requires that its users KYC and some Kenyan citizens don’t have the proper documentation to do so, which means they’re excluded from the system. Using Tando, they can be included in Kenya’s broader monetary system.
The excitement around Tando at the conference was part of the broader enthusiasm around apps that make bitcoin easier to use across the African continent — apps like Bitsacco, Machankura, Fedi and Bitnob.
Massive shout out to the devs making #Bitcoin wallets easier to use.@bitsacco @Machankura8333 @fedibtc @tando_me @Loicbtc pic.twitter.com/UhVw5bnBxO
— Frank Corva (@frankcorva) December 11, 2024
African Bitcoiners are far ahead of their counterparts in the United States when it comes to using bitcoin as it is intended to be used — as peer-to-peer electronic cash.
And while many Africans are working tirelessly to onboard as many merchants as they can to Bitcoin, Tando is an excellent intermediary step that allows Bitcoiners to spend their sats even if the merchants with whom they’re spending don’t yet accept bitcoin payments.
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