Before I even arrived this year Africa Bitcoin ConferenceI saw servers posting about it Tandoa new payment app based in Kenya that allows users to spend their satan with merchants that do not accept bitcoin.
Just arrived in Nairobi 🇰🇪🛬 & the first thing I see as I leave is the @tando_mise a sign
LET'S GO @AfroBitcoinOrg 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/zhPSP2dTH8
– OKIN |. December 8, 2024
“How is this possible?”, you might ask. Well, let me explain.
To use Tando, simply download the app and prepare to pay any merchant that accepts payments M-PESAKenya mobile money service. (Note that I didn't say you had to go through a set or KYC process, because neither is required – Tando does not collect identifying information from its users.)
When the merchant gives you your bill, simply click the “Send Money” box on the app's home screen. From there, you enter the mobile phone number linked to the M-PESA account you are transferring money to and then enter the amount of Kenyan Shillings you wish to transfer.
The app automatically calculates how much shit it takes to cover the shilling you put in. Then you click on the green “Create invoice” button to receive an electronic invoice. After that, you copy the invoice and pay it through your favorite Lightning wallet. Tando receives the sates and then settles the bill in shillings with the merchant within seconds.
I can hardly count how many times I've seen Bitcoiners use Tando to pay restaurant bills or taxi fares since I've been here. (I've been to a lot of restaurants and I've ridden in a lot of taxis since I arrived.)
Now, I know what some of you are thinking: Tando interface with a fiat payment system, which means that it should be expelled from the Church of Bitcoin.
But before you allow yourself to entertain that kind of thinking, please consider the following ideas:
- You are a loser.
- Here in Kenya, as in other parts of Africa, people actually use bitcoin for payments.
- When you show someone how to use Tando, it gives you the opportunity to show the merchant what Bitcoin is while showing them how the app works. (I looked Kit Gorilla' Brindon Mill (make this excellent for an attendee at a conference after party.)
- M-PESA requires KYC users and some Kenyan citizens do not have the correct documents to do so, which means they are excluded from the system. Using Tando, they can be integrated into the wider Kenyan monetary system.
The excitement around Tando at the conference was part of the wider enthusiasm for apps that make bitcoin easier to use across the African continent – apps like Bitsacco, They are drunk, It covers and Bitnob.
Big shout out to the devs doing it #Bitcoin easier to use wallets.@bitsacco @Machankura8333 @fedibtc @tando_mise @loicbtc pic.twitter.com/UhVw5bnBxO
– Frank Corva (@frankcorva) December 11, 2024
African Bitcoiners are way 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 money.
And while many Africans are working hard to onboard as many merchants as possible to Bitcoin, Tando is an excellent intermediate step that allows Bitcoiners to spend their sat even if the merchants do not own it they still accept bitcoin payments.
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