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 fee.
Native information web site PoPville first reported on Thursday {that a} D.C. outpost of Pubkey, a bar situated in Greenwich Village that describes itself as a “vibrant bitcoin neighborhood”, had taken over the lease of Hill Nation, a well-liked Texas barbecue restaurant and music venue, which lately introduced it might shut its doorways in Penn Quarter after 14 years.
It’s a part of a development of crypto-centric social venues opening up throughout the nation prior to now 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 may hang around – as long as they paid with cryptocurrency. (When Eater visited in 2022, they observed “a wide range of regional kinds” of sizzling canine on the menu, in addition to a stuffed raccoon subsequent to “a tv that gave the impression to be enjoying A Christmas Story”.) However not like its rivals, 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 all the bar, turning 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 may have podcast studios, occasion house, all that stuff,” he informed The Verge. Though he acknowledged the damaging publicity surrounding Trump’s go to, Pacchia added that Democrats equivalent to Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had visited Pubkey as effectively and hoped the brand new location would draw a bipartisan crowd. “Anyone that desires to come back and discuss Bitcoin is welcome. Actually, anybody.”
The bar it would reportedly change has diametrically opposed vibes. Positioned 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 notably beloved by Republican staffers on the lookout for stay nation music, a very good smoked brisket, and decently priced effectively liquor. It’s additionally a spot the place one may witness high-powered GOP lawmakers letting unfastened: Rep. George Santos was as soon as spotted singing “I Will Survive” on a Wednesday karaoke night time in 2023, whereas beneath 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 social gathering 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 huge affect with the Trump administration, due to key crypto gamers equivalent 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 stress so palpable that Vice President J.D. Vance lately 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.