There are a lot of conclusions to be drawn from the most recent cryptocurrency boom, but one of the most interesting aspects of its success is that the priority for many token holders and crypto card users is not necessarily found in utility but in value.
In particular, Bitcoin has found its purpose as a store of value and a financial hedge against fiat currencies, particularly since the addition of Bitcoin ETFs which have drawn traditional finance into the decentralised financial world.
It is easier now than ever before to get onto an exchange and convert fiat currency into crypto tokens and back again, but what is fascinating is that the purpose of the exchange and these tokens is as much about investment as it is about their use for currency, governance or to interact with other parts of Web3.
A good example of this shift can be seen with one of the most vibrant (figuratively and literally) attempts to create real-world utility for crypto outside of the blockchain itself.
The idea of merging the world of crypto with the culinary world has been attempted many times, but the most famous example was undoubtedly Bored & Hungry, a burger bar that from the tills to the iconography was the epitome of the crypto world of that era.
Its stratospheric rise and troubles at the top reflected one of the most unique times in crypto’s recent history, and is rather bizarre that buying a burger is such a reflection of the fundamental changes that have since been seen in the world of decentralised finance over the past few years.
Bitcoin Burger
The first purchase ever made with Bitcoin was, rather famously, of two pizzas, so there has always been a connection between food and cryptocurrency.
During the crypto boom of 2017 and 2018, KFC in Canada sold the Bitcoin Bucket, a bucket of chicken strips and waffle fries that cost 20 Canadian dollars, that price pegged to the cost of Bitcoin at the time.
There were other, smaller ad-hoc attempts to implement crypto payments for bars and restaurants, but the problem that owners found was that between the beginning of a transaction and the end, the price of Bitcoin would dramatically change, often requiring a customer to make a second transaction to top up the difference.
This volatility is why Bitcoin is popular as an investment vehicle, but this instability coupled with what could be somewhat volatile transaction or gas fees at the time made it rather difficult to justify using it for smaller transactions.
In some respects, Bored & Hungry was the biggest and last attempt to demonstrate the utility of crypto during what was at the time a cultural peak for the industry.
Founded by Andy Nguyen in 2022, it largely existed thanks to the Bored Ape Yacht Club and their rather unique ownership rights as documented in their white paper.
Essentially, if you possessed one of the Bored Ape NFTs, you could use the design iconography of that specific ape in commercial projects.
Mr Ngujen spent over $400,000 on a Bored Ape and three Mutant Apes, aiming to take advantage of what was at the time an exceptionally lucrative piece of intellectual property and use it to launch a pop-up restaurant.
The gambit worked initially, as 1,500 NFT and crypto enthusiasts queued up on its first day to buy either smash burgers or plant-based burgers, fries and soft drinks. According to many reviewers, the food itself was fantastic, but that was only part of the appeal.
The boxes, containers and wall murals were all based on the purchased Bored Apes, as was a massive mural painted all along the exterior walls of the restaurant.
Not only that, but Bored & Hungry accepted both Ether and ApeCoin, the Bored Ape crypto token.
On 9th April 2022, the first ever purchase made in crypto took place, which cost the equivalent of $21.92, not including $5 of gas fees due to using a token on the Ethereum blockchain.
This does not factor in the fact that not long after his purchase ApeCoin increased in value by 20 per cent.
Unfortunately, the good times for Bored & Hungry would not last, as within days of the restaurant’s launch, the entire market would suffer a contraction and sell-off which would escalate into a gigantic crash over the course of the following six months.
By June, it was reported that Bored & Hungry had stopped accepting payment in crypto and the NFT market collapsed entirely making the $400,000 worth of digital assets worth closer to $50,000 by the time it closed in April 2024.
The brand has been sold to Hungry DAO, a crypto-focused branding and franchising company based in South East Asia.