Five years ago, when the world was gripped by the uncertainty of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the founders of Tahini’s, a Canadian fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain, took an unusual gamble.
Co-founders and brothers Omar and Aly Hamam took Tahini’s cash reserves and invested in cryptocurrency bitcoin. It was a prescient move.
Since March 2020, bitcoin’s price has risen from around $5,200 (U.S.) to just under $120,000 (U.S.).
When they first started buying bitcoin, Tahini’s CEO Omar Hamam says he was thinking, “the government’s printing money left, right and centre … it’s just a matter of time before the inflation hits.”
The brothers and their cousin and business partner, Ahmed Dessouki, considered investing in gold at first, but chose bitcoin in the end to hedge against inflation.
“It is volatile, absolutely. But in the long run, you make more money than anything else,” Hamam said about investing in the cryptocurrency, noting there were months at a time when he was worried about having done so. “I saw (bitcoin’s value) go down and I’m like, ‘oh my god, is that a good decision?’”
Now, Hamam says he sees bitcoin as the natural “evolution of money.”
“Inflation is affecting everyone, and I feel like the only thing to fight it is bitcoin,” he said.
Both Hamam and Henry Kim, director of the blockchain.lab at York University’s Schulich’s School of Business, agree bitcoin has recently come to be seen as a more conventional investment, especially as U.S. lawmakers have become more accepting of cryptocurrencies under President Donald Trump.
Though investing in bitcoin has gained popularity, the practice of businesses treating it as a treasury reserve asset, as Tahini’s has, is “still a minority thing to do, and also quite speculative,” said Kim.
Bitcoin “behaves a lot like gold,” but “on more steroids,” Kim explained. “If (the value of) gold goes up, oftentimes bitcoin goes up even more.”
Bitcoin’s value fluctuates though, and it was significantly cheaper during the pandemic than it is right now. According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency’s market cap currently sits at $2.36 trillion.
That Tahini’s has seen success in bitcoin is “great,” but all it means is that Hamam “was a great investor,” said Kim. “There’s a bubble in there, and some people that are forming bitcoin treasuries right now will probably get hurt.”
Paul Pincente, vice-president of digital assets at Purpose Investments, has a slightly more optimistic view.
“Responsibly contributing what your business can afford — not going overboard — it’s a fantastic strategy,” said Pincente. He acknowledged that investing in bitcoin can be daunting for the non-tech savvy, but said doing so through an exchange-traded fund is one way to get around that.
For those considering investing in bitcoin, education, patience and “knowing that there are other options to exposure that aren’t as risky from a loss perspective” is important, said Pincente.
In Tahini’s case, its reserve hasn’t been dipped into yet.
“We’ve been saving it for a rainy day,” said Hamam. But when the time comes, “it’s good to know that we have that money in the bank accounts. It makes us feel confident.”
