NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump made history Wednesday at a New York City bar, becoming the first U.S. president to use Bitcoin to complete a transaction.
Trump, 78, used the cryptocurrency to pay for burgers and beers he bought for customers at PubKey, a Manhattan bar and restaurant known for accepting Bitcoin, ahead of a campaign rally on Long Island.
“I just made the first transaction in Bitcoin,” the former president declared to roars of approval from the crypto-loving crowd.
Trump, with the help of a PubKey employee, appeared to use a cellphone and tablet belonging to the bar to complete the transaction.
He said the payment was “very easy.”
“Let’s make Bitcoin great again,” cheered one bar patron as Trump paid his bill.
Pubkey called the moment “one of the most historic transactions in #bitcoin history,” in a social media post.
The price of Bitcoin has increased by more than 500% over the past five years. The current price of 1 Bitcoin is $61,248.50.
Trump’s photo op at the Bitcoin bar comes the same week he spoke about cryptocurrencies during the presentation of World Liberty Financial, a new cryptocurrency company founded by entrepreneurs Steve Witkoff and the former president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The Republican presidential candidate explained during the X Spaces event promoting World Liberty Financial that his children, including 18-year-old Barron Trump, encouraged him to embrace cryptocurrencies.
“He talks about his wallet. He has four wallets or something,” Trump said of Barron.
“And I say, ‘What is a wallet? Explain this to me.’”
In July, Trump pledged to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world” if elected to a second term in the White House.
“If Bitcoin is going to the moon, as we say, it’s going to the moon, I want America to be the nation that leads the way,” he said at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville.
Trump also vowed to end what he called President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ “war on cryptocurrencies” and fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who is leading a regulatory crackdown on digital currencies.
Trump’s campaign began accepting cryptocurrency donations in May, the same month the former president declared himself a “crypto candidate.”
