Spend Bitcoin In Kenya And Have It Settle Over M-PESA With Tando 

Tando is a tool that allows you to spend bitcoin from your Lightning wallet but have the transaction settle over the M-PESA network, Kenya’s most popular mobile payment system.

Result: Every shop, hotel, market stall, and/or utility provider in Kenya that takes M-PESA becomes somewhere you can spend bitcoin, while the vendor never knows the difference. 

The team behind Tando came back from the 2023 Africa Bitcoin Conference with a clear conviction: Africans should be the ones building Bitcoin tools for Africa. So, they went home and built an app that looks and works as seamlessly as M-PESA, with one main difference: the money the spender uses is bitcoin.

Because you can add Tando as a Mini App inside Fedi, it connects straight to your existing Fedi wallet.

One of Tando’s co-founders, Sabina Gitau, touched on this, as well.

“Tando creates Lightning invoices that you can pay from your Fedi wallet,” said Gitau,. “This makes the partnership between Fedi and Tando mutually beneficial.”

How to Add the Tando Mini App on Fedi

Step 1: Tap the Mini Apps button toward the bottom-right of the Fedi screen.

Step 2: Tap the plus sign (+) toward the top right and tap on "Add from Catalog”.

Step 3: Search for "Tando" and tap "Add."

Tando now appears as one of your personal Mini Apps.

How to Spend Bitcoin in Kenya Using Tando on Fedi

Step 1: Click on the Mini Apps icon toward the bottom right corner of the Fedi app, and open the Tando Mini App from your Mini Apps screen.

Step 2: Choose your payment type: “Send Money,” “Buy Goods,” “Pay Bills,” or “Scan QR Code”.

Step 3: Depending on which option you choose, you’ll enter the recipient's phone number or scan their code, confirm the amount, and pay from your Fedi wallet. The recipient receives Kenyan shillings via M-PESA instantly. 

A Tip From Tando

Gitau understands that making a payment from a Lightning wallet and having it settle over M-PESA is a very new concept, and so she has some advice to those who may be skeptical.

“Start small — you can spend as little as KES 15 worth of bitcoin,” said Gitau. “Try that first by sending it to yourself. Get a feel for how it works and then decide if you want to keep using it.”

Gitau also noted that Tando is never in control over user funds and that Tando is simply “a bridge facilitating value transfer.”

Add Tando as a Mini App on Fedi today, and begin to pay any vendor in Kenya that accepts M-PESA payments with bitcoin without the vendors knowing the difference!