In a real signal of a vibe shift in Washington, a DC bar beloved by Republican staffers introduced that it was shuttering its doorways – and can reportedly get replaced by a bar that solely accepts cryptocurrency as cost.
Native information web site PoPville first reported on Thursday {that a} D.C. outpost of Pubkey, a bar positioned in Greenwich Village that describes itself as a “vibrant bitcoin neighborhood”, had taken over the lease of Hill Nation, a preferred Texas barbecue restaurant and music venue, which not too long ago introduced it will shut its doorways in Penn Quarter after 14 years.
It’s a part of a pattern of crypto-centric social venues opening up throughout the nation previously a number of years. Pubkey, which opened in 2022 close to New York College’s Manhattan campus, has a notably informal environment: a subterranean dive bar-slash-podcast recording studio, with a pub grub menu designed by an Eleven Madison Park alum, the place anybody might hang around – as long as they paid with cryptocurrency. (When Eater visited in 2022, they noticed “a wide range of regional types” of scorching canine on the menu, in addition to a stuffed raccoon subsequent to “a tv that gave the impression to be taking part in A Christmas Story”.) However not like its opponents, Pubkey has a singular hyperlink to the White Home: Donald Trump made a high-profile go to in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign and used $998.70 price of bitcoin to purchase smash burgers for your entire bar, changing into the primary president to conduct a bitcoin transaction – a symbolic embrace of the crypto neighborhood.
When reached for remark, Pubkey proprietor Thomas Pacchia confirmed that they’d be opening a DC location within the coming months, however declined to specify the situation. “The DC location could have podcast studios, occasion area, all that stuff,” he instructed The Verge. Though he acknowledged the adverse publicity surrounding Trump’s go to, Pacchia added that Democrats corresponding to Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had visited Pubkey as properly and hoped the brand new location would draw a bipartisan crowd. “Anyone that desires to come back and speak about Bitcoin is welcome. Actually, anybody.”
The bar it would reportedly change has diametrically opposed vibes. Situated near DC’s energy lobbying companies, Hill Nation, a bar whose decor couldn’t scream “TEXAS” any louder, has lengthy been referred to as a DC nightlife spot significantly beloved by Republican staffers on the lookout for stay nation music, smoked brisket, and decently priced properly liquor. It’s additionally a spot the place one might witness high-powered GOP lawmakers letting free: Rep. George Santos was as soon as noticed singing “I Will Survive” on a Wednesday karaoke night time in 2023, whereas below a federal and Congressional investigation for fraud and mendacity about his background. (This reporter has personally attended a number of stay karaoke nights and at the least one firm vacation get together at Hill Nation over the previous a number of years.)
Pubkey’s arrival in Washington comes at a notable time in crypto’s historical past, whether or not it displaces the Republican bar or not. As soon as thought-about an unserious group of libertarians by lawmakers, the cryptocurrency neighborhood now has large affect with the Trump administration, because of key crypto gamers corresponding to David Sacks and Elon Musk supporting Trump’s reelection. Trump himself has embraced cryptocurrency greater than earlier presidents, launching his personal memecoin, appointing Sacks as a “crypto czar” and saying a possible cryptocurrency strategic reserve. (The rise of crypto has inadvertently stoked competitors between the nativist MAGA proper and the worldwide economy-focused tech proper, a pressure so palpable that Vice President J.D. Vance not too long ago needed to name for a truce between the 2.) With the upcoming opening of Pubkey, it seems that within the nation’s capital, the crypto faction is actually gaining floor.
