Spanish Coffee Chain Vanadi approves €1B Bitcoin bet

The board of directors of Vanadi Coffee, a publicly traded coffee chain headquartered in Alicante, Spain, has just signed off on a plan to see the company invest up to €1 billion — roughly $1.17 billion — in Bitcoin. 

The move, approved by shareholders on June 29, signals a significant departure of the company from previous financial policies, pushing it to the vanguard of corporate adoption of Bitcoin in Spain.

A new solution for Bitcoin adherents, the firm has so far purchased 54 BTC, worth around €5.8 million at current prices, and is also eyeing wider expansions. In a recent filing with BME Growth — Spain’s growth division for small- and medium-sized enterprises — Vanadi hinted that they wished to become the largest business holder of Bitcoin in Spain.

Vanadi’s stock price went parabolic following the company’s Bitcoin play, increasing more than threefold in June. The increase marks an apparent increase in investor appetite for companies leveraging digital assets as a treasury strategy.

Vanadi had said in its translated announcement:

“Similar to companies such as Strategy or Metaplanet, Vanadi Coffee redefines its business model and will use Bitcoin as its main reserve asset and accumulate large amounts of Bitcoin as part of its treasury.”

The company is looking to replicate the high-wager Bitcoin treasury models of Strategy, which holds over 200,000 BTC, and Metaplanet. The Japanese firm has recently tweaked its balance sheet policy to the pro-Bitcoin side.

Vanadi struggles to recover with a Bitcoin bet

Vanadi’s had been struggling financially and operationally; its 2024 financial statement lists that it was operating at a loss of €3.3m, an increase of 15.8% from the previous period.

Competition and operating costs have eaten away at profitability bit by bit as the cost of coffee has risen ever higher, dragging the firm further into financial strain.

Meanwhile, Vanadi was looking for more money to build long-term. It received two large investment offers in May. One was from a tiny local software consultancy, a one-man outfit in Alicante, and he offered 50 million euros. The other was Alpha Blue Ocean, an international firm that announced it would back 15 companies in 15 countries with over €1.5 billion in investment.

Critics raise concerns over Vanadi’s ambitious Bitcoin move

Vanadi’s daring foray into Bitcoin is not risk-free. The company has a handful of stores serving espresso and pastries, and it is now dipping a toe in the complex world of crypto treasury management.

But analysts and sceptics have raised red flags. They also note that Vanadi’s small size, slim operating margins and inexperience in crypto could be left open to volatility and then to scrutiny by regulators.

Unlike Strategy, whose tech-focused leadership team has many years of experience navigating capital markets, Vanadi’s management has a steep learning curve ahead.

And the regulatory climate for digital assets in Spain is also conservative. It’s not part of an activist group, but it is dynamic, and screwing any of this up in compliance or implementation would be expensive.

Vanadi is not alone, though. Companies worldwide are adding Bitcoin to their treasury, which is becoming a trend. US-based crypto firm Bakkt recently revealed its intentions to purchase as much as $1 billion of Bitcoin. Tesla and Coinbase are among the companies that have pursued comparable treasury strategies.

What sets Vanadi apart, however, is the scale of its ambition relative to its core business. A €1 billion Bitcoin bet on a café chain with six locations and persistent losses is an aggressive bet by any measure.

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