Middle Eastern Restaurant Chain Converts Entire Reserves to BTC

A Canada-based Middle Eastern restaurant chain just converted their entire fiat cash reserves into Bitcoin.

According to an Aug. 19 tweet from Tahini’s — ‘the best Middle Eastern restaurant in the world’ — the decision to switch its cash reserves to crypto had its genesis in March’s crash, and when the Canadian government began to provide assistance programs for businesses unable to stay open due to the pandemic.

With the United States and Canada printing money to prop up their ailing economies, Tahini’s owner Omar Hamam started to see the financial system as “a game of musical chairs being played right now and the music will stop and some people will get left out.”

Hamam said he was concerned that the handouts and money printing would devalue fiat currency. “It was apparent to us that cash didn’t have the same appeal,” he said. “That eventually with all the excess cash circulating the economy that cash would be worth less.”

“As time went on I was constantly trying to learn and grow my knowledge about finance. I heard people in the Bitcoin community saying you have to hear about Bitcoin at least 7 times before you get into it. 100% accurate.”

He decided to convert the company’s savings into Bitcoin because it “offers a much better alternative to saving cash.” He reported that they would continue to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset — “maybe forever, if we don't have a need for fiat.”

Bitcoin accepted here

Tahini’s is following the same financial planning strategy as listed business intelligence company MicroStrategy, which last week announced it had adopted Bitcoin (BTC) as its primary reserve asset. MicroStrategy purchased 21,454 BTC for roughly $250 million.

The landscape is changing so fast, some now wonder if even Berkshire Hathaway, controlled by Warren Buffett, may invest in cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation. The company invested in a gold miner for the first time this week.

The restaurant’s decision to switch to Bitcoin received enthusiastic support from the crypto community. Podcaster Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano tweeted his support, saying “another company converts their balance sheet capital to Bitcoin” adding he thought the idea was catching fire. Peter McCormack, host of the What Bitcoin Did podcast, echoed Pomp’s thoughts and tweeted he is also considering converting all his non-working capital into BTC.