Woman funds sushi restaurant owner’s retirement fortune after using Bitcoin to pay

An American woman has revealed how she blew her Bitcoin haul, now worth over $500,000, on a sushi dinner for strangers.

A tech writer has revealed how she blew Bitcoin now worth almost $500,000 on a Sushi dinner for strangers.

Kashmir Hill revealed she spent 10 of the crypto coins at a restaurant Sake Zone in San Francisco while doing a piece for Forbes in 2013.

And some seven years later she revealed restaurant owner Yung Chen still has hold of much of her Bitcoin, using the fortune in part to retire.

Ms Hill revealed her experience in December in a piece of the New York Times, saying she thought it was “silly” that Bitcoin could become a store of value like gold.

She was taking part in a challenge to live for a week on Bitcoin – and decided to offer her final few coins for a gathering of crypto fans from Reddit to have a slap up meal at Sake Zone.

Woman spent her Bitcoin haul on sushi dinner

She admitted at the time she even feared she had cheated Mr Chen – but now her platter of tempura shrimps and teriyaki is worth $500,000.

“I felt guilty at the time, making Yung Chen accept $US1,000 ($1,296) worth of funny money because it was unclear to me whether Bitcoin should be worth anything at all,” she said.

The journalist got back in touch with Mr Chen as Bitcoin enjoyed a bumper year during pandemic as prices surged as people moved much of their lives online.

She revealed Mr Chen and his wife have now retired – having amassed their own fortune of 41 Bitcoins, which is worth around $2million.

Sake Zone was an early adopter of accepting cryptocurrency, and was one of the few places that would accept it when Ms Hill challenged herself to live on Bitcoin only for Forbes in 2013.

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She spent 10 Bitcoin on sushi – which would now be worth around $500,000.

Mr Chen actually sold a quarter of his total Bitcoin when they shut Sake Zone in 2017 – a decision he now regrets, but he is relived he kept hold of the rest of his coins.

He said: “I sold some. I feel so bad. Now, I just keep it. I just put it there like stock and wait.”

“The Bitcoin has become one of the major saving assets in my portfolio. It’s a lot.

“It’s close to like a half-million dollars in my account.”

The restaurateur felt confident adopting Bitcoin so early after working in the tech sector in the 1980s when he first emigrated from Hong Kong to California.

Sake Zone was located next door to the offices of the internet Archive, so with staff coming in regularly the Chens decided it was time to start accepting Bitcoin.

“[I] not really think of money. More like a new product that I would like to play around with,” Mr Chen said.

He added he did worry when Ms Hill made her 10 Bitcoin purchase of for around $US1,000 ($1,296) worth of Sushi – but he’s happy he did as now crypto is “big money”.

Ms Hill’s tale comes as the cryptocurrency market has slumped further today after crashing last week following months of major gains.

The price of big-hitter coins like Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have plummeted by up to 12% at the time of writing.

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Bitcoin is a highly volatile cryptocurrency that fluctuates. Picture: Justin TALLIS / AFP

It marks a disastrous week overall for the cryptocurrency market, after news broke that Bitcoin’s value nearly halved in value within the space of six weeks after reaching a record high of $US64,000 ($83,000) in April.

The digital currency fell to its lowest level since January after Beijing said it will block crypto exchanges and initial coin offerings. The value of cryptocurrency markets as a whole has plummeted by $1 trillion in just two weeks.

It comes following a series of hammer blows to a number of coins.

To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called “mining” must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.

For each problem solved, one block of Bitcoin is processed. In addition, the miner is rewarded with new Bitcoin.

To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of new Bitcoins are produced each day.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.