Peak Bengaluru! Harsh Goenka shares picture of tea seller who accepts crypto

Industrialist Harsh Goenka on Friday took to Twitter to share a photo of a tea seller in Bengaluru who accepts cryptocurrency payments. Goenka captioned the photo, "The New India."

Shubham Saini, a crypto trader, runs the tea stall after dropping out of his BCA course and losing his profits in the 2021 crypto market crash.

In an interview with Indian Express in September, he had said, "I had invested Rs 1.5 lakh, and in the matter of few months, I witnessed a 1,000 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.”

However, Saini was forced to start over in April 2021 after the crypto market crashed. “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 added.

Due to financial constraints, the 22-year-old took that path and opened a roadside tea stall in India's startup capital. Customers at his tea shop can pay using cash, UPI, or cryptocurrency.

“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,” he added.

A cup of tea at his stall costs Rs 20, or $0.26. Saini accepts Bitcoin payments through Paxful, a website for buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrencies.

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