If you thought your local Starbucks or WeWork were great places for connecting with friends and colleagues, imagine being surrounded by truly like-minded people united by a common passion.
Well, two passions, actually: cryptocurrency and a really good burger. That’s exactly what’s going on at Bitcoin Rock Cafe in Vigo, Spain, the first restaurant of its kind to fully finance itself by tokenizing its shares on the blockchain.
There should be a Bitcoin Rock Cafe in every city in the world
Co-founder Alejandro Regojo (who also happens to be a Bitcoin Gold core developer), is notably excited about the project and the Bitcoin Rock Cafe team has nailed the target market for this type of environment perfectly.
Research by collaborative financial platform 2gether found that the average Bitcoin user (beyond being male) is an “overachieving, millennial food lover.” International gastronomy and Bitcoin? Win-win.
Regojo is quick to remind me that that’s not the only goal of the Bitcoin Rock Cafe, however. He says that the main aim of the project is to encourage the use of cryptocurrencies, as well as be an example of a use case of blockchain technology in an environment “as easy to understand as a restaurant.”
To enhance the adoption of cryptocurrency and educate newcomers, in this laid-back and trendy resto-bar, users can pay with up to 2000 different cryptocurrencies. Not only that but there are more than ten different crypto meetups every month and a Bitcoin ATM right by the door. According to the project’s roadmap, two more restaurants will be opened up in Madrid and Barcelona in the near future.
Fundraising through tokenization on the blockchain
Operating since August 2019, Bitcoin Rock Cafe first raised funds through a private token sale fully compliant with its local regulator. This is the CNMW, the Spanish version of the SEC. A few days ago, the company opened up its token sale to the general public.
The interface is simple and shows the investor how many BRC tokens they have, the fiat value of these and also includes a tab to check when dividends are due. Everything is transparent for investors and complies with local regulation.
Regojo explains that investors receive the dividend in either fiat or tokens directly in their BRC Investor Dashboard. The amount depends on the equity they own. The restaurant also plans to publish its earnings every three months in order to comply with local laws.
Beyond being ridiculously cool and an incredible way of helping with cryptocurrency adoption, Bitcoin Rock Cafe also goes to show the viability of blockchain to finance any type of local business from anywhere in the world, accessing an international investor market. Let’s hope there will be one of them coming to a city near you sometime soon.
