Bitcoin Smart Meters Could Revolutionise How South Africans Pay for Power

Bitcoin Smart Meters Could Revolutionise How South Africans Pay for Power

Johannesburg energy management company Invirohub is giving consumers new a way to buy prepaid electricity: bitcoin. Smart meters manufactured by the company will integrate wallet addresses, 3G SIMs and a server connection to compute an up-to-the-minute bitcoin price. Customers simply send their bitcoin to their meter's wallet address and Invirohub will credit them with a commensurate amount of electricity. "All this came together in my mind a few weeks ago where I realised that it wouldn't take much effort at all to integrate bitcoin into our current software," said Technical Director....


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Bitcoin may soon be responsible for lighting up the streets of South Africa. Yes, because Invirohub, a South African smart meter developer, has integrated bitcoin payments into its smart meters. These meters allow consumers to "to up" an electricity allowance. Each meter will have a specific wallet address and 3G SIM card for connectivity. Once a user puts a deposit on the address their account will be credited at the current exchange rate. Months ago South Africa's Standard Bank, Africa's largest bank, was said to be testing bitcoin payment systems and more recent news of Johannesburg and....