“We keep working capital for about three to six months in cash, and then the rest goes into Bitcoin,” said co-owner Aly Hamam.
More than a year after a Canadian-based Middle Eastern restaurant chain converted its fiat holdings to Bitcoin, the owner reported that the move helped save the business during the pandemic.
According to a Tuesday report by Canadian news channel Toronto Star, when restaurant owners Tahini Aly and Omar Hamam and their cousin Ahmed decided to convert the company’s savings into Bitcoin (BTC) in August 2020 because it offered “a much better alternative to save money.” money, the cryptocurrency cost approximately $12,000. Aly Hamam reported that the business benefited from the initial investment in cryptocurrencies.
“We made the corporate balance sheet move to a Bitcoin standard in August 2020 and have since increased our initial investment by over 300%,” Hamam said. “It really did its job of protecting us against inflation and it worked as we had hoped.”
The price of BTC rose to an all-time high of over $67,000 in November before dropping to $41,729 at press time. Despite the company’s sales down 80% in a week at the start of the pandemic, Hamam said investing in cryptocurrency has allowed them to expand from three restaurants to nine at a time when many in the industry are struggling financially. , and planned to increase this value. number up to 25 by the end of the year.
“We keep working capital for about three to six months in cash, and then the rest goes into Bitcoin,” Hamam said. “So every time we have an expansion, we are not obligated to sell our Bitcoin to fund that expansion. We try to trade conservatively, where we never need to sell our Bitcoin and keep accumulating in our treasury.”
#Bitcoin is hope for businesses big and small
— Tahinis Restaurants (@TheRealTahinis) January 19, 2022None of Tahini’s Ontario locations currently accept BTC or other cryptocurrencies for payments, but each host a Bitcoin ATM, allowing customers to purchase tokens before, during, or after meals. At the time of the initial investment, the value of which is still unclear, Hamam hinted that the company would continue to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset indefinitely if “there was no need for decree.”
“We will continue to strive to make the best food we can… and with Bitcoin, we also want to help people financially.”Related: Landry’s Restaurant Group to Introduce Bitcoin Loyalty Program
While restaurants like Tahini don’t seem to be in the crosshairs of regulators in the Canadian province, the same is not always the case with local cryptocurrency companies. The Ontario Securities Commission has cracked down on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the region, including Binance, OKEx, Bybit, KuCoin and Polo Digital Assets. On January 14, Bitfinex announced that it would close the accounts of Ontario customers who do not have a balance on the platform, while many users “will no longer have access to any services” as of March 1.