Caffeine And Bitcoin: Spanish Coffee Brand Pours $1 Billion Into Crypto

A Spanish coffee chain is planning a radical shift in its business model: blending brand with bitcoin.

Vanadi Coffee SA, known for its espresso drinks and café locations, wants to buy about $1.13 billion (€1 billion) worth of crypto.

If this plan goes through, the company would change from a coffee brand into what it calls a “crypto first” firm. The board is set to discuss the proposal on June 29.

Financial Losses Hit Home

According to local reports, Vanadi posted a net loss of $3.7 million in 2024. That shortfall comes after a rocky start in the stock market. When its shares (ticker: VANA) first began trading in July 2023, they opened at €3.28 ($3.73).

Now those shares trade at just €0.28 ($0.32). That’s a drop of about 91.46%. In the face of these staggering losses, chairman Salvador Martí is urging the board to approve a plan that could rewrite the company’s entire strategy.

Shares Plunge Amid Bitcoin Fluctuations

Based on trading data, Vanadi already dipped its toes into Bitcoin. Martí made an initial purchase of 5 BTC at a cost of roughly $527,110 in total. Right after that buy, Vanadi’s stock climbed from €0.40 ($0.46) to about €0.49 ($0.56) in a single day, on May 21.

But those gains didn’t last. When Bitcoin slid from roughly $111,000 to about $105,000, Vanadi’s shares fell back to €0.28 ($0.32). That rapid rise and fall shows just how closely tied the company could become to crypto’s price swings.

Martí isn’t simply asking the board to buy Bitcoin with cash on hand. He wants “carte blanche” to negotiate convertible financing, which means Vanadi could issue new shares to raise money for more Bitcoin purchases.

New investors might pour cash into the company, hoping for a BTC windfall. But current shareholders could see their stake shrink.

If Bitcoin doesn’t rally, the shares might stay low, and debt or equity could become a heavy burden. In plain terms, this plan shifts the company’s fate onto Bitcoin’s next big move.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Since MicroStrategy (now rebranded to Strategy) started its own Bitcoin-buying spree in August 2020, other firms have jumped on board.

Based on reports, at least 12 companies—GameStop among them—have invested in Bitcoin so far this year. Some governments are even talking about holding Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

In that sense, Martí’s pitch is riding a larger trend: businesses turning parts of their cash into BTC. But it also means Vanadi would have no fallback if coffee sales keep sliding.

Featured image from Imagen, chart from TradingView