While Bank Negara Malaysia and the cashless players in Malaysia try their hardest to bring franchises and retail stores on board, this humble hawker stall in Kota Bharu, Kelantan has gone one step further and already accepts purchases of their nasi kerabu in Bitcoin.
A post went up on Facebook last Saturday, by user Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi.
This one-of-a-kind stall is called Jijah’s NK Stall. We got in touch with Jijah’s husband, to find out a bit more about this humble store that deals in Bitcoin.
As he responded to us in Bahasa Malaysia, all quotes in this article were translated from that to English.
Other than just Bitcoin, the tech-savvy makcik and pakcik have even set up their location on Google Maps and Waze, and they update their Facebook page regularly with any news of their opening hours, and other updates.
Despite this, they still think that they’re “simply a stall, providing a service by selling food at a reasonable price”.
Unfortunately, so far most of their customers who had Bitcoin accounts were not too keen on paying with this method.
To buy nasi kerabu in this stall, Ringgit is converted into USD, and USD is later converted into Bitcoin. Scan, and go home, according to various Facebook posts.
Seemingly only enabling Bitcoin transactions since the 8th of August, Jijah’s NK Stall set this platform up as an option for any who would like to use it, but most still clung to paying using cold hard cash.
In the Facebook post announcing the ability to pay using Bitcoin, Jijah’s NK Stall encouraged their patrons to swap to the digital Bitcoin currency that is accepted worldwide, characterising it as profitable and safe.
They even cheekily asked their Facebook fans to “tanya makcik google-taip: apa itu bitcoin” (Translation: Ask aunt Google by typing: what is Bitcoin).
This seems to be their small part in educating reticent Malaysians about Bitcoin, separating it from MLM and scams. They even pointed out that Bitcoins are mentioned in Form 4 textbooks, and shared a Forbes article regarding Bitcoin.
Nevertheless, Jijah’s NK Stall believes that Bitcoin is the future. Branding Bitcoin as the Raja Segala Matawang (The king of all currencies), Jijah’s husband informs us that they came to this conclusion based on a few factors.
Firstly, in the Cryptocurrency Market Cap charts, Bitcoin holds the topmost position over all other cryptocurrencies.
He cited how Bitcoin was introduced with no value, and now reaches RM21K for a single Bitcoin. This, to him, is why Bitcoin is king.
“That’s outstanding profit compared to commercial banks,” he said.
“We look far ahead. Perhaps one day digital currencies will grow.”
As for their food, while we have yet to sample their nasi kerabu fares, all of the reviews on their Facebook page so far have been promising, placing them at a 4.6 out of 5 star rating.
Jijah’s husband even proudly pointed out that Datuk Siti Nurhaliza’s prolific husband, Datuk K had eaten at their stall.
He added, “Datuk K and Datuk Siti requested for Nasi Kerabu Jijah just two days ago.”
Other than that, during the holy month of Ramadhan, the team were happy to announce that they’ve also spread their business to Kuantan with a stall named Nasi Kerabu Teruna, though it does not seem like Bitcoin is enabled in that branch yet.
Speaking of cashless in Malaysia, Jijah’s husband laments that “Indonesia is more forward in this aspect”.
“Bank Mandari is one of the banks that accepts digital money transactions.”
It seems to us that Jijah’s NK Stall is very knowledgeable in Bitcoin, though he does think that he has more to learn about the topic.
To him, it’s all about “seizing opportunities, instead of waiting and seeing if opportunities arise”.
Despite running a small stall, these businesspeople are thinking ahead into the future and embracing technology as it comes.
Well one thing’s for sure, we do look forward to a future where Jijah’s NK Stall looks at all of the people just boarding the Bitcoin train to say, “I told you so.”
As for me, I think it’s a bit of a shame that I don’t get to sample their nasi kerabu anytime soon, since it’ll be quite a trip to get there.
Nevertheless, if you ever find yourself in Kelantan and own some Bitcoin, you’ll probably make this Pakcik’s day if you choose to buy nasi kerabu cashless.
As the daughter of a Kelantanese mother, I can say that authentic nasi kerabu is an experience you won’t want to miss, at least.
You can check out a video of one of their customers paying with Bitcoin here.
