'Our payment system does the conversion accordingly as it is linked to the price charts'
Agencies file
The Dubai-based café Bake N More will accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment, becoming the first café to accept crypto.
Mohammad Al Hammadi, the owner of Bake n More, said the company is currently paying salaries to staff in fiat currency but he didn’t rule out that they will be paying salaries to staff in cryptos. “We won’t limit ourselves in the future.”
According to the Triple-a.io website, there are close to 300 million crypto users globally and approximately 150,000 users in UAE and the numbers are increasing.
“With these statistics, it is not hard to look at the untapped market in UAE. Also, the most important is that I have been using Mixin Messenger and its wallet. I feel very safe and easy to use this wallet to safe keep my crypto. We are still accepting cash and credit card payments but we have added crypto to expand the reach to different users. We want Bake n More to be a coffee and pastry hub for crypto users in UAE,” says Al Hammadi, who will open doors of his first café on March 29 in Al Quoz.
Replying to a query about how much coffee would cost in cryptos, Al Hammadi said: “Our payment system does the conversion accordingly as it is linked to the price charts. For Instance, if a bottle of water cost Dh5, the system divides it by the chart rate, we can assume 3.68, and calculates the cost based on that will be 1.35 UST.”
TerraUSD (UST) is the decentralised and algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra blockchain. Its value is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar,
“We currently store the digital currency and will work with relevant parties to convert it into fiat,” he added.
waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com
Waheed Abbas is Assistant Editor, covering real estate, aviation and other business stories that directly affect the lives of UAE consumers. He frequently reports human interest stories, too.