In a real sign of a vibe shift in Washington, a DC bar beadored by Reaccessiblean staffers proclaimd that it was shuttering its doors – and will alertedly be swapd by a bar that only adchooses cryptocurrency as payment.
Local news site PoPville first alerted on Thursday that a D.C. outpost of Pubkey, a bar discoverd in Greenwich Village that depicts itself as a “vibrant bitcoin community”, had getn over the lmitigate of Hill Country, a well-understandn Texas barbecue restaurant and music venue, which recently proclaimd it would shut its doors in Penn Quarter after 14 years.
It’s part of a trfinish of crypto-centric social venues discdispondering up apass the country in the past cut offal years. Pubkey, which discdispondered in 2022 proximate New York University’s Manhattan campus, has a notably casual atmosphere: a subterranean dive bar-slash-podcast write downing studio, with a pub grub menu summarizeed by an Eleven Madison Park alum, where anyone could hang out – so lengthy as they paid with cryptocurrency. (When Eater visited in 2022, they watchd “a variety of regional styles” of boiling dogs on the menu, as well as a stuffed raccoon next to “a television that materializeed to be percreateing A Christmas Story”.) But unenjoy its competitors, Pubkey has a exceptional join to the White Hoengage: Donald Trump made a high-profile visit during the 2024 campaign and engaged $998.70 worth of bitcoin to buy smash bencouragers for the entire bar, becoming the first pdwellnt to guide a bitcoin transaction – a symbolic adchoose of the crypto community.
When achieveed for comment, Pubkey owner Thomas Pacchia validateed that they would be discdispondering a DC location in the coming months, but deteriorated to describe the location. “The DC location will have podcast studios, event space, all that stuff,” he telderly The Verge. Although he acunderstandledged the adverse accessibleity surrounding Trump’s visit, Pacchia retained that Democrats such as Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had visited Pubkey as well and hoped the new location would draw a bipartisan crowd. “Anybody that wants to come and talk about Bitcoin is greet. Literpartner, anyone.”
The bar it will alertedly swap has diametricpartner contestd vibes. Located shut to DC’s power lobbying firms, Hill Country, a bar whose decor could not scream “TEXAS” any boisteroengager, has lengthy been understandn as a DC nightlife spot particularly beadored by Reaccessiblean staffers watching for dwell country music, a excellent smoked dynamicet, and decently priced well liquor. It’s also a place where one could witness high-powered GOP lawproducers letting free: Rep. George Santos was once spotted singing “I Will Survive” on a Wednesday karaoke night in 2023, while under a federal and Congressional spendigation for deception and lying about his background. (This alerter has personpartner joined cut offal dwell karaoke nights and at least one company holiday party at Hill Country over the past cut offal years.)
Pubkey’s arrival in Washington comes at a notable time in crypto’s history, whether it displaces the Reaccessiblean bar or not. Once pondered an ungrave group of libertarians by lawproducers, the cryptocurrency community now has massive impact with the Trump administration, thanks to key crypto percreateers such as David Sacks and Elon Musk helping Trump’s reelection. Trump himself has adchoosed cryptocurrency more than previous pdwellnts, begining his own memecoin, assigning Sacks as a “crypto czar” and announcing a potential cryptocurrency strategic reserve. (The elevate of crypto has inadvertently stoked competition between the nativist MAGA right and the global economy-centered tech right, a tension so palpable that Vice Pdwellnt J.D. Vance recently had to call for a truce between the two.) With the upcoming discdispondering of Pubkey, it materializes that in the nation’s capital, the crypto faction is literpartner achieveing ground.
