‘The Frustrated Drop Out’: This tea stall in Bengaluru accepts payment in Bitcoin

Shubham Saini at work at his tea stall in Bengaluru. (Image credit: @ frustrated.dropout/Instagram)

‘The Frustrated Drop Out’. We are talking about a person and his tea stall in Bengaluru that accepts Bitcoin as payment and is understandably, popular among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

Set up by 22-year-old Shubham Saini, the tea stall began to accept payments in cryptocurrency after customers themselves offered to pay for their tea via Bitcoin, reported Indian Express.

Although it surprised Saini, a cryptocurrency enthusiast himself, he decided to go ahead with it and even put up a placard where he showcases the the INR to USD rate. “Any customer who wishes to make the payment has to simply scan the QR code just like UPI, convert INR to the dollar, and then make the payment in cryptos,” Saini told the publication.

He added that adding Bitcoin to the mix has made his business grow. On average, about 20 new customers a week use cryptocurrency to pay for their purchases, Saini claimed.

He then shared his rags-to-riches-to-rags experience while trading with Bitcoin before opening the tea stall.

Saini travelled from Rewari in Haryana to went to Bengaluru in search of job opportunities and was introduced to crypto market trading. In 2020, as the market plunged by 60 per cent, like many other investors, Saini invested all of his pocket money in buying cryptocurrency. “I had invested Rs 1.5 lakh, and in the matter of few months, I witnessed a 1000 per cent jump in my portfolio. Soon, my crypto wallet increased to Rs 30 lakh, and this was a big deal for a student like me,” he told indianexpress.com.

Read more: 10 red flags to look for before investing in crypto

A financially independent Saini then paid his college fees himself and lived a "lavish life”. He even dropped out of his BCA final semester to take up crypto trading full time. “I thought I am the next ‘Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’ of the crypto world, but life is not easy after all,” he said.

Things took a turn for the worse in April 2021 with the cryptocurrency market crash. It wiped out 90 per cent of Saini’s crypto portfolio. “I was back exactly where I started, from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 lakh. I couldn’t believe that one night could change so much in my life,” he told the publication.

He even had to sell his brand-new iPhone to make ends meet.  Refusing to ask his parents for money, Saini decided to open a tea stall in Marathahalli and cryptocurrency has, once again, revived his fortunes.

Read more: A history of the rise and fall of bitcoin from 2009-22