‘Crypto Café’ In Thailand Serves Up Cups Of Joe With A Kick Of Investment Advice

When entering this space, the wall of screens showing the latest cryptocurrency market movement as well as throngs of patrons engaged in investment discussions might not exactly scream “café,” but this is exactly what it is. 

Located in northeastern Thailand, HIP Coffee & Restaurant has become a second home to many crypto traders. With their coffee and fresh bakes, they can be found keeping a watchful eye on laptop screens as well as the café’s own wall of graphs. 

"Having so many screens helps a lot,” a 23-year-old trader Apakon Putnok explains to Reuters. “We immediately know and get to analyse crashing factors and whether we should buy.”

Although the café has been around since 2013, its crypto-inspired makeover in 2020 saw its customers double. 

“It’s exciting for me to be here because I get to meet people who share the same interests,” Detnarong Satianphut, another crypto trader, tells Reuters. “We get to exchange information because in the trading world we are coming up against millions of people.”

The news outlet notes that Thailand has seen a huge surge in the crypto scene as of late, with as much as 251 billion baht (US$7.62 billion) being traded in digital asset in just November 2021 alone.  

Regulators are reportedly worried about this, recently announcing plans to regulate the use of crypto as a payment method in order to minimize risks to the economic system.

Apart from hosting the growing community of traders, the space also offers free investment consulting, according to manager Oakkharawat Yongsakuljinda. It might also even start its own cryptocurrency coin. 

[via Reuters and Retail & Leisure International, image via HIP Coffee & Restaurant]