Gaining currency in real life

Walk past Suryawanshi Restaurant in Indiranagar and you may not even give it a second glance, unless you happen to be a die-hard fan of Maharashtrian cuisine. But the tiny eatery located in upscale Indiranagar has entered the annals of history by becoming the first restaurant in the city that accepts payment in bitcoins.

Bitcoin is a form of digital asset and a payment system, commonly termed as a decentralised digital currency. Based on a concept called block chain technology, bitcoins are increasingly being seen as the future of a cashless world. But grey areas abound and the lack of a common regulator and clear cut laws along with our aversion to incorporate technology in our lives beyond a limit is hampering the popularity.

“September 2016 is when we introduced the idea. One of my father’s close friends explained the concept to us. I took some time myself and read about it to understand how it works, who are behind it, the regulations and legalities and all,” says Tejas Suryawanshi.

“Only once has someone paid in bitcoins. It was a bill of around Rs 530. At that time, bitcoins were trading at around Rs 91,000. Today, the currency trades at over Rs 2 lakh. So the appreciation has been pronounced and it shows that it is a good investment. It is quite simple to implement too - you just need some bitcoin wallet apps or exchanges, wallets are more secure though.

A week ago, a customer asked if he could pay through bitcoins but I wasn’t available. But now, I have made sure that the managers and all have the app installed in their phones too,” he adds.

While Tejas is one of the few people who have accepted the new concept with open arms, others are still debating the pros and cons.

Varun Hemachandran, founder of ‘Talking Earth’ says, “Bitcoin as a currency is self-managed by a cryptographic system.

So, there is a greater level of trust and a lower chance of manipulation. The negative is that it is subject to very high fluctuations and it is not very reliable, because there are very few people trading in it.”

Shankar Rama Varma, a software professional, says “I feel it will work. There is no central agency and so the transaction fees are low or almost nil. There is a fear that since this is an online currency which will maintain the users’ records, hacking is a possibility. However, the account details will be saved in a distributed ledger, which is spread over the globe and this reduces the risk of hacking.”

Says Harikuttan, “The challenge is to maintain the value of the currency. Also, there are different variations of bitcoins and this will add to the confusion. It is not a standardised mechanism like a currency so I would like to compare it to a stock. More than the concept of digital currency, it is the underlying technology that holds promise for the future.”

There is a unanimous feeling that whether one likes it or not, this is the future. Says Varun, “A lot of countries are talking about turning their own currencies into cryptocurrency. I personally would love to try it too but maybe as an investment choice and not as a day-to-day currency.”