A smart chai station in Vadodara has been opened by a MS University incubated startup. By selling tea and refreshments it has become the first social media platform that makes money by doing so.

With cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin & Dogecoin As payment methods, the tea station is also the first retail store that is accepting such a mode of payment.

“Currently, there is no indigenously developed well-designed social media platform for the Indian market. At a time when we are talking of ‘Make in India’, there was a need for a location-based social media app. So, we developed Gossip as a better version of Twitter,” said Shubhra Saha, the co-founder of Gossip.

Thourgh GPS feature in the group chat, everybody in your vicinity gets a notification.

“We have started Gossip smart chai station as the first real-life social media platform. You can meet and have tea and conversation at physical locations of the social media platform in different areas of the city,” said Saha.

“Initially, all social media platforms look to increase their subscriber base. later, however, users get frustrated with the constant flow of advertisements and promotions that keep cropping up. Hence, we have decided to eran from tea and not advertisements,” Saha added.

Saha said that the purpose of accepting this mode of payment is to raise awareness and have discussions around it.

“Currently, there is no regulation on its usage. But as economic systems are changing, we may start seeing the use of cryptocurrencies as widely as e-wallets or digital wallets are being used.”