Singapore based Maison Ikkoku is one of many restaurants that has adopted cryptocurrencies as a payment method for its services. The restaurant in the heart of the Kampong Glam district greets its customers by a sign which lets them know that Bitcoin, Ethereum and Binance Coin are accepted.
The CEO of the restaurant, Ethan Leslie, describes the introduction of cryptocurrency as a “grave boost” for their business.
Ethan further explains that crypto helps the restaurant attract a good amount of customers and as the effect of the pandemic is decreasing, employees of hedge funds and centralized exchanges have made a group of regular visitors.
The 80-seat restaurant’s website unveils a plethora of crypto-themed events like Crypto Brunch Happy Hour which helps the customers to meet and hang out with “dev team members, traders, community, OTC, DEX, CEX, DeFi protocol, NFT artists, and more.”
About 10 minutes further down the road is Joo Bar which is one of the earliest Singaporean restaurants to adopt crypto payments, and it is still supporting its crypto enthusiastic customers. The owner Jamie Lim offers a 15% discount for customers that pay in BTC.
Lim says his spot has become “something of a melting pot for like-minded people” and adds that he has linked people looking for jobs in the industry without charging any fee.
“Bitcoin transactions have improved tremendously since its inception. Nowadays, all you need to do is scan a QR code,” said Isaac Tang, a regular customer of Joo Bar.
Singapore was once the home of many big crypto companies but recently the government’s attitude towards crypto has changed.
Many companies are now shifting their headquarters to the Middle East as UAE has introduced many crypto-friendly regulations. Just recently, Singapore’s Three Arrow Capital announced the shifting of its HQ from Singapore to Dubai
