A restaurateur opened "Bored & Hungry", a Bored Ape-themed restaurant in Long Beach, California that offers a simple menu of hamburgers or plant-based burgers (with or without onions), french fries, and soda. Prices are listed in plain ol' cash, but the restaurant published a celebratory Instagram post on April 9 showing their first ever meal purchased with $APE, the Bored Ape-associated crypto token.A customer ordered two combo meals, which he purchased by using his mobile crypto wallet to transfer 2 $APE. I was able to track down the transaction, and at the exact time of transfer, 2 $APE were priced at $21.92. The value of $APE has increased by 20% since then, so the purchaser lost out on those earnings by spending them at that time (compared to cash, which is worth roughly the same as it was 10 days ago). This is a (very small) example of why people don't tend to use as currency the same assets they are expecting to increase substantially in value. Furthermore, the purchaser had to agree to an estimated $10 in gas fees when he confirmed the transaction — half as much again as the price of the meal. The transaction ultimately cost the purchaser $4.66 in gas due to fortunately low rates that day, but it was a transaction fee that wouldn't exist if they used cash, or would be substantially smaller and typically absorbed by the restaurant if using a credit card.
Painful financial implications aside, a public transaction record means it's now trivial for anyone to see who is purchasing food at the restaurant using crypto in real time — something that has concerning implications for victims of stalking and other abuse if implemented more widely, as well as just for average people who enjoy having some degree of privacy.
Anyway, hopefully the food's good — assuming the person had any appetite left after looking at their food containers depicting an ape with green skin sloughing off its face.
