In This Thailand Cafe, Food Is Served With Free Advice On Cryptocurrency Trade

In a volatile market that just saw Bitcoin, the most well known cryptocurrency, hitting a six-month low, crypto traders get to exchange info, which they say offers them a good chance of success. 

The Bitkub app on an Bitkub Capital Group Holdings Co. employee's laptop at the crypto exchange's office in Bangkok, Thailand | Representational Image: Getty

New Delhi: Thailand is witnessing a cryptocurrency boom, with shops and other establishments now increasingly accepting crypto as payment, and big companies going for Bitcoin mining.

Cashing in on this momentum, a cafe in northern Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province has given itself a crypto makeover, offering free investment advice to customers along with coffee, according to a Reuters report.  

It has wall-to-wall screens showing the latest market moves, keeping the crypto traders coming to the cafe hooked to them, the report said. 

The many screens help the traders “analyse crashing factors” and decide whether to buy, a trader at the HIP Coffee & Restaurant was quoted as saying.

In a volatile market, which just saw Bitcoin, the most well known cryptocurrency, hitting a low, the traders get to exchange information, which they say offers them a good chance of success. 

"It's exciting for me to be here because I get to meet people who share the same interests," said another crypto trader, Detnarong Satianphut.

HIP cafe has been around since 2013, but it got the crypto makeover only in 2020, and claims that footfall has since doubled.

The cafe suggests alternative investment opportunities for people in the Nakhon Ratchasima province, manager Oakkharawat Yongsakuljinda told Reuters.

It is planning to start its own cryptocurrency coin, the report said.

Thailand To Regulate Use Of Cryptocurrencies As Payments

Quoting latest official data, the Reuters report said Thailand saw a trade of 251 billion baht (around $7.62 billion) in digital assets in November.

The number of people who are estimated to own cryptocurrency in Thailand surged over 400% in 2021, from 3.6 million the year before, according to a Nikkei Asia report published earlier this month.

The surging interest in digital assets, however, has the regulators worried.

Thailand said earlier this month that it would now regulate the use of cryptocurrencies as payments, as it warned of potential risks to the country’s financial stability and overall economy.