Taste Test: Penn Quarter's new "not a MAGA" Bitcoin bar
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
PubKey's smashburger, part of the tallow-fried, pub grub heavy menu. Photo: Courtesy PubKey
Ask a friend to meet you at PubKey, Penn Quarter's new Bitcoin bar, and you might get the same response I did: "Ugh, why."
The assumption: It's an exclusive crypto-bro clubhouse — the kind, as one Reddit user put it, frequented by "Republican Hill staffers with broccoli haircuts and grifters with spray tans."
The reality: An unassuming tavern with echoes of former tenant Hill Country — wood paneling, Americana tchotchkes, and on our visit, Caps fans housing chopped cheese and Miller High Life.
- "Dammit," my friend said upon the first sip of a $14 turmeric-gin cocktail. "I didn't want it to be that good."
- Ditto for the addictive waffle fries and snappy Chicago dogs, just $9 a pop.
The intrigue: PubKey's owners — largely Wall Street expats with lead investment from the Winklevoss Twins — are keenly aware of the stereotypes around a D.C. crypto bar that's also home to a crypto think tank and crypto podcasting studio, especially under our new "Crypto President."
- And yes, Trump visited PubKey's Manhattan flagship on his 2024 campaign trail, paying in Bitcoin — which owner Thomas Paccia tells Axios less than 10% of customers do (otherwise it's cash and card, no other digital currencies accepted).
What they're saying: "We've been pigeonholed as a MAGA bar," Pacchia tells Axios. "We're not a MAGA bar. We're not a Republican bar. We're not a Democrat bar."
- What they are, he says: "A nerd bar."
The big picture: PubKey's ethos is come for the bar food — tallow-fried, naturally — stay for the fireside crypto chats. Pacchia calls it "a media company with a hospitality wrapper."
- Both locations pair dive-bar tastes with a Bitcoin budget: smash burgers, hot dogs and canned wine — plus a hulking $65 ribeye-frites for the whales.
- There's also a $100 tiki cocktail that only Bitcoin can buy.
What's next: "Dimly Lit Chophouse" will open in the space soon. In the rebel Bitcoiner mindset, the name nods to well-lit, Instagram-friendly restaurants, "and we want to be the exact opposite of that," says Pacchia.
- Think mutton chops, mangalista pork steaks, and a wet Friday lunch. "Like fine dining, but the absolute lowest tier of fine dining."
The bottom line: PubKey's biggest quirk — and winning virtue — is that it's a group-friendly bar open daily at 11 am. That's a rare thing in D.C., and dare I say, worth its weight in Bitcoin.