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 website 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 group”, had taken over the lease of Hill Nation, a well-liked Texas barbecue restaurant and music venue, which not too long ago introduced it could 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 prior to now a number of years. Pubkey, which opened in 2022 close to New York College’s Manhattan campus, has a notably informal ambiance: 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 noticed “quite a lot of regional types” of scorching canine on the menu, in addition to a stuffed raccoon subsequent to “a tv that seemed to be taking part in A Christmas Story”.) However in contrast to its opponents, Pubkey has a singular hyperlink to the White Home: Donald Trump made a high-profile go to through the 2024 marketing campaign and used $998.70 value of bitcoin to purchase smash burgers for your complete bar, changing into the primary president to conduct a bitcoin transaction – a symbolic embrace of the crypto group.
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 placement. “The DC location may have podcast studios, occasion area, all that stuff,” he advised The Verge. Though he acknowledged the detrimental publicity surrounding Trump’s go to, Pacchia added that Democrats resembling Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had visited Pubkey as nicely and hoped the brand new location would draw a bipartisan crowd. “Anyone that wishes to come back and discuss Bitcoin is welcome. Actually, anybody.”
The bar it can reportedly substitute 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 generally known as a DC nightlife spot notably beloved by Republican staffers searching for reside nation music, a superb smoked brisket, and decently priced nicely liquor. It’s additionally a spot the place one may witness high-powered GOP lawmakers letting unfastened: Rep. George Santos was as soon as noticed 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 reside karaoke nights and no less than 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 of an unserious group of libertarians by lawmakers, the cryptocurrency group now has large affect with the Trump administration, because of key crypto gamers resembling 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 asserting 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.
