Trumps Bitcoin Burger Purchase Unveiling the Background of this Bitcoin Bar

Who Sold the “Bitcoin Burger” to Trump?
When Thomas Pacchia first proposed to Donald Trump’s campaign team to use the Bitcoin-themed bar PubKey as a campaign site, their reaction was exactly what Pacchia expected: “What is a Bitcoin bar?”
Last Wednesday, on his way to a rally in Long Island, Trump made a detour to PubKey and used Bitcoin to purchase a burger, marking the first-ever transaction completed by a (former) U.S. president using Bitcoin.


Thomas Pacchia, owner of PubKey bar.
Two years ago, Pacchia founded PubKey with the vision of creating a neighborhood bar in Washington Square Park that would serve as a place for people to discuss monetary policy and politics while enjoying a beer, just like the founding fathers did 250 years ago.
Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise when a future president paid a visit. PubKey had previously hosted politicians like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Pacchia had also invited other presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris.
However, the details of Trump’s visit were more shocking. Pacchia only found out about it a week before the interview and spent four hours a day working with the Secret Service to develop a reception plan, including covering the skylights and arranging snipers nearby. “It was insane,” Pacchia told Fortune magazine the day after Trump’s visit, as the bar staff worked to get back to business as usual.
From the Mafia to the Bitcoin Burger
Pacchia is not your typical Manhattan bar owner. He used to be a lawyer and in 2015, he became the first external employee at financial services giant Fidelity to have specialized knowledge in Bitcoin. Under the leadership of CEO Abigail Johnson, Fidelity delved into the cryptocurrency space, and Pacchia helped build the Fidelity Digital Assets business infrastructure, including custody and trading platforms, as well as early iterations of mining operations.
Although Pacchia’s current focus is on PubKey, which is set to open a new location in Washington D.C. and expand to other cities with funding from the Winklevoss brothers, he is still active in the cryptocurrency industry. Pacchia serves as a board member for Stronghold Digital Mining and provides consulting services for another Bitcoin mining company, Luxor.
Pacchia used to live a few blocks away from PubKey, where there was a bar called Formerly Crow’s: “An epic, typical New York underground bar,” as he described it. He would host gatherings with friends to discuss Bitcoin, which he called Crypto at the Crow. When Formerly Crow’s closed during the pandemic, Pacchia decided to create PubKey.
“Bitcoin needs its bars and meeting rooms to foster some of the revolutionary, cultural, economic, and technological changes it is driving,” Pacchia told Fortune magazine.
He partnered with two experienced restaurant owners and a former Eleven Madison Park chef to design a menu that includes burgers, hot dogs, and cocktails to attract nearby residents and cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Despite the Bitcoin-themed decor of PubKey, it still attracts a diverse range of customers. In November last year, Pacchia noticed a couple at the end of the bar who looked like they had just finished a long day of work. He approached them and they were surprised when he told them about the Bitcoin spirit of PubKey. “Are you kidding us?” they asked.
It turned out they were photographers from the New York Post who had been responsible for photographing Caroline Ellison, a former senior executive at FTX who happened to live nearby and testified in Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial. The couple had randomly ended up at PubKey.
Trump’s Visit
Trump first entered the cryptocurrency space in 2022 when he launched an NFT series. However, his overall attitude towards cryptocurrencies remained hesitant. But as the crypto industry became one of the biggest funders of the 2024 election cycle, his attitude changed.
Now, Trump has embraced blockchain enthusiastically and adopted some suggestions from the industry, including advocating for the release of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and the firing of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
Trump hasn’t won the support of everyone, as some still doubt him for calling Bitcoin a “scam” a few years ago. Meanwhile, he recently announced the so-called DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial, operated by the Trump family, which has faced criticism for being a money grab rather than a genuinely decentralized product.
During Trump’s visit to PubKey, he still didn’t grasp some of the industry’s more intricate terms, referring to the food he was selling as “crypto burgers” instead of “Bitcoin burgers.” This was important to Bitcoin’s loyal supporters as they often view other tokens as “shitcoins.”
Meanwhile, the initial footage of the historic burger transaction showed a failed attempt due to difficulty scanning the QR code caused by camera flashes. Pacchia added that around 5% of PubKey’s sales come from Bitcoin.
Pacchia quickly understood Trump’s actions.
“To understand the difference between Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, it requires a long learning process. It’s unrealistic to expect these politicians to become Bitcoin experts,” Pacchia told Fortune magazine.
Trump’s visit confirmed Pacchia’s decision to establish PubKey. He gave the former president two gifts. The first was a replica of the famous “Buy Bitcoin” sign, which was held up by one of PubKey’s founding partners behind then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen during a congressional hearing in 2017. The second was an American flag commissioned by another PubKey sponsor and prankster, which was hung above the U.S. Capitol to commemorate Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Nevertheless, Pacchia insists that PubKey does not endorse any presidential candidate. He hopes Harris will also visit.
“Bitcoin shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” he said. “It belongs to everyone.”
This article is a collaboration and was originally published by Deep Chain News.