From htxt. Story by Charlie Fripp.

Even though Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are slowly taking off around the world, the major problem with them is that you can typically use them only for goods and services from a retailer that accepts Bitcoin.

Until now.

ZAZOO, a subsidiary of Net 1 UEPS Technologies, has just announced that it’s signed a deal with South Africa-based Bitcoin platform BitX to allow users to spend bitcoins anywhere they wish through the company’s VCpay technology.

VCPay is a South African-developed virtual credit card app. Using it is simple. You install the app on your phone, and then you can use it to create legitimate credit card numbers with expiry dates and CSV numbers that will be accepted anywhere.

In order to use the card number, you can either link it to a bank account to withdraw money on the fly or top up an amount into your VCPay account.

Systems like VCPay are useful if you’re worried about people skimming your card details in online transactions. You can create a card with exactly the balance you want to spend and then never use it or top it up again. Essentially it’s a one-time-use card that won’t be any good to anyone who steals the details later. You don’t even need a bank account to sign up for VCPay.

With the BitX partnership, you can transfer Bitcoins onto the card and then use them to make purchases in any currency.

“This collaboration will enable BitX and VCpay users to now spend Bitcoins agnostically, anywhere online and anywhere in the world, without any changes to the existing acquiring or switching infrastructures. We believe that BitX is an ideal partner for our technology as it is a rising star in the crypto-currency field, and supported by astute investors such as Naspers,” said Philip Belamant, Managing Director of ZAZOO in a statement.

Read more at htxt.