In 2013, Forbes tech reporter Kashmir Hill decided to use nothing but Bitcoin for an entire week to see how the up-and-coming cryptocurrency would fare in the โreal world.โ
Daily expenses, little buys here and there where possible, and most prominently, a blowout sushi dinnerโฆ all paid for in Bitcoin.
Back then, BTC was priced at US$136 (AU$212); at the time of this writing, BTC is approaching the US$115,000 threshold (AU$178,550).
โBitcoin had come on my radar as a privacy-protective technology allowing people to make anonymous online purchases,โ Hill wrote in The New York Times.
โI bought a bunch of Bitcoin on a site called Coinbase and tried to find ways to spend them. There werenโt many places that knew what Bitcoin was, much less accepted it for purchases.โ
โBut because I lived in the tech mecca of San Francisco at the time, I did have a couple of options, including a cupcake shop and a sushi restaurant called Sake Zone.โ
โStill, the week living on Bitcoin was hard: I had to move out of my apartment into a hacker hotel that was still under construction. I lost five pounds, both because of the limited food options and because my only transportation options were walking or riding a bike that a friend rented to me for half a Bitcoin. And I was constantly caffeine-deprived because I couldnโt find anywhere selling coffee for cryptocurrency.โ
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After living a spartan lifestyle for several days, Hill decided to celebrate. And amusingly enough, there was an open invitation to Bitcoin enthusiasts on Reddit. Only the turnout ended up becoming a little more than just a dozen or so people from a then-niche internet community.
The headcount climbed all the way to over 60: economists, entrepreneurs creating Bitcoin apps and games, the founders of Burning Man โ it became quite the diverse peanut gallery.
โAt the end of the night, I paid the bill, which came to $957 (plus tip). I felt guilty at the time, making [restaurant owner] Yung Chen accept $1,000 worth of funny money because it was unclear to me whether Bitcoin should be worth anything at all.โ
Had Kashmir Hill chosen to pay in cash instead, sheโd be over US$890,000 richer today. There is, however, a happier epilogue to what many would deem a tale of missed opportunities.
In 2017, Yung Chen and his wife retired from the hospitality racket due in great part to their crypto earnings โ although he still occasionally clocked in for the odd shift as a City of Oakland sidewalk inspector. Based on last reports, the couple held a total of 41 BTC (AU$4.7 million in 2025).
โI didnโt worry about that,โ Chen said in reference to accepting Bitcoin over cash for the headline-making sushi dinner all those years ago.
โCompared to our regular sales, it was a small amount. At that time, Bitcoin wasnโt a big moneyโฆ Now itโs big money.โ
You can read the original article via The New York Times here.
