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A server was left puzzled after a customer left a restaurant without paying the bill and instead left behind a mysterious gold-colored coin.
Reddit user u/Martoshka shared the experience on a subreddit called, "mildly infuriating," where it gained 42,000 upvotes. They explained they work in an upscale steakhouse, and the bill totaled $35.
"A guy left this on the table of the restaurant I work in and left without paying," they wrote.
Alongside the post, they included a photo of the coin left by the diner, which is gold with an engraved Bitcoin "B." Text around the coin reads: "Bitcoin. Digital. Decentralized. Peer to peer."
Jesse Kraft, assistant curator at the American Numismatic Society, told Newsweek about the origins of the mystery "bitcoin."
"That is a 'Bitcoin.' I use quotes because real bitcoin is, of course, a digital cryptocurrency, while this is something that someone created as a gimmick to make a buck.
"There is such a thing as physical cryptocurrency, which is a metal coin/token, similar to the one in the photo, but actually has a code to redeem a real bitcoin—they call this 'loaded', and once the bitcoin is redeemed, it is 'unloaded'. They can sell for tens of thousands of dollars."
However, the diner didn't leave the server with a substantial tip. Instead, the coin turned out to be a replica of a "loaded bitcoin."
"It looks like the token in the photo has one ounce of copper in it, so it has an intrinsic value of about $0.27, and they can be purchased on Amazon, and other places, in bulk," Kraft revealed.
According to Investopedia, Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates without the oversight of a central authority, such as a bank or government. Created in 2009 by an anonymous entity known as Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin was designed as an alternative to traditional money, allowing transactions directly between users through a peer-to-peer network.
Reddit Reacts
The Reddit community found the situation captivating, debating the coin's actual worth.
"If he ever comes back, you can serve him a picture of food," quipped one user.
Many users concluded that the coin was copper, though one user disagreed.
"They aren't even copper; it's just plated steel. You can buy a pack of 12 of these on Amazon for $10. But maybe the guy was so dumb he thinks owning an actual coin is owning Bitcoin," commented Kerensky97.
"The B stands for 'ban me from here,'" joked Historical-Airport61.
Newsweek reached out to u/Martoshka for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
About the writer
Lydia Patrick is a Newsweek Life and Trends Reporter based in London, focusing on emerging trends, human interest stories, and ... Read more