A crowd gathers outside PubKey D.C.’s launch party on November 20, 2025.
Frank Corva
Last night, Bitcoin proponents and members of the U.S. political class gathered in downtown Washington, D.C. to celebrate the launch of Bitcoin-themed bar PubKey’s second location, which will double as the new home base for the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
Spirits were high at the event, as groups who once had little in common mingled, engaged in deep conversation, and shared laughs as live music bounced off the walls of the 12,000 square-foot first floor of the establishment.
Attendees included U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) as well as key figures from the Bitcoin industry including Nakamoto CEO David Bailey; Galaxy Digital’s Head of Firmwide Research, Alex Thorn; and THNDR Games CEO Desiree Dickerson.
PubKey co-founder Thomas Pacchia, who’d been hard at work in recent weeks prepping for this event, was a bit fatigued as the event got underway, but was elated that he and his team had pulled off the impossible in opening the doors to their second location just in time to welcome a high-profile cast of characters.
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“We’ll have members of the administration and congresspeople here tonight, and we aren’t even technically open yet,” Pacchia told me in an interview.
He clarified that this first event was just a launch party and that the venue’s grand opening won’t occur until early next month. He then shared that he can’t wait to start serving local Bitcoin enthusiasts, a skill that Pacchia has mastered at PubKey’s first location, which he lovingly refers to as a “dive bar,” located in downtown New York City.
An American flag hangs above one of the two bar areas at PubKey D.C.
Frank Corva
The Road To A Second PubKey
PubKey’s New York location opened in late 2022, in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and while bitcoin’s price was below $20,000.
Needless to say, sentiment was quite low at that time. However, a dedicated few would still show up to the weekly events and meetups Pacchia and the PubKey team hosted.
Pacchia then also tapped into his contacts from his days working on a digital assets team at Fidelity, and, soon, the likes of Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert—well-established personalities in the Bitcoin space and advisors to El Salvador’s pro-Bitcoin president, Nayib Bukele—were featured guests at PubKey events, while Peter McCormack, then host of the popular Bitcoin podcast What Bitcoin Did, filmed a live episode of his show at the bar.
Momentum built, and PubKey quickly developed a reputation as an venue at which Bitcoin enthusiasts could catch intimate in-person talks from some of their favorite figures in the Bitcoin space.
Fast forward to September 2024, when then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump made an appearance at PubKey, putting the bar on the map as a destination for Bitcoin enthusiasts worldwide.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 18: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump visits a Bitcoin-themed bar called Pubkey in the West Village in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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These days, it’s common to attend a PubKey event in New York that’s packed wall to wall, which is part of the reason Pacchia is glad to have more space at the new location.
“We started to feel cramped in New York,” said Pacchia. “It’s small, and there’s a lot more stuff we want to be able to do.”
And Pacchia and his team will be able to do much more in the D.C. venue, which is six times the size of the New York location, has two bars, a stage for fireside chats and live music, a podcast studio, space for the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and a basement that will be converted into a chophouse.
90s rock cover band Parrotfish performs live at PubKey D.C. launch party.
Frank Corva
“D.C. will be more event driven,” explained Pacchia.
“We’ll have more fundraisers, conferences, and summits here,” he added. “There’s a lot of things we can do with the space now that we have room to run.”
Welcomed By D.C.’s Bitcoin Community
Andrew Newman, Pubkey’s chief operating officer, believes that the PubKey team is very much going to need this extra space, judging by the enthusiasm he has noticed in the “DMV” (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) Bitcoin community.
Newman said that the Bitcoin “plebs”—a slang name for everyday Bitcoin enthusiasts—in the DMV area are quite active.
“The local plebs here are a totally different breed,” Newman told me in an interview at the event.
“They’re serious people, and they’re turning this city into a bitcoin circular economy,” Newman added. “One of these guys, Trey, started a new nonprofit called the Bitcoin District Initiative, and he’s onboarding four or five vendors a week to bitcoin.”
Pacchia also commented on the enthusiastic “Bitcoiners” in the area.
“We’re shocked with the groundswell of Bitcoiners in the DMV,” he said. “They’re just so excited that a place like this is coming here.”
Bitcoin memorabilia that “plebs” might recognize hangs on the wall behind one of the bars at PubKey D.C.
Frank Corva
Newman also mentioned that he’s met a number of Bitcoin curious folks, many of whom are in the restaurant industry, as well.
“Other restaurant operators in the city are aware of us, and they’re excited we’re here, which I didn’t expect,” said Newman. “They’re open-minded, and they’re excited to learn more about Bitcoin culture, too.”
He concluded by driving home the point that everyone from the plebs to the Bitcoin-curious are welcome at PubKey’s new location.
Bitcoin Policy Institute’s New Home
Toward the back of the first floor of the new establishment are two rooms for the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) team.
BPI, which was also founded in 2022, is a nonpartisan Bitcoin think tank that has played a key role in educating politicians about Bitcoin and influencing Bitcoin legislation under the current administration.
Vice President JD Vance even noted the work on the organization in a keynote speech he delivered at Bitcoin 2025, a major Bitcoin conference hosted in Las Vegas earlier this year.
So, why would such an influential organization want to be based in the same space as a bar?
“Bars are where revolutions happen,” BPI co-founder and president David Zell told me in an interview at the event.
“This country was founded by a bunch of freaks in a bar who dared to think that they could make a freer, fairer, and better world, and they met up at a bar and they did it. That’s what we’re doing here: we have a bunch of people who care very deeply about the world and we’re going to meet in the back of a bar and build a better future,” he added.
“We’re going to build a freer, fairer, more just world with Bitcoin, and we’re going to do it out of the back of this weird bar in D.C. with our PubKey friends.”
The Challenges That Lie Ahead
As of now, Pacchia says the plan is for the first floor of PubKey to be opened by December, though he and his team are still waiting on some permits.
He was hesitant to offer me an exact date for the grand opening, because he didn’t want to put pressure on himself and his team.
Looking beyond the local administrative challenges, Pacchia also wants to make sure politicians on both the political left and the right feel comfortable coming to PubKey to engage with members of the Bitcoin community.
Having received some backlash from the predominantly Liberal community in Greenwich Village, New York, where the first PubKey establishment is located, for hosting Donald Trump, Pacchia has since repeatedly stated that people and politicians of all persuasions and ideologies are welcome in PubKey establishments.
“The Democrats are my top target to make progress with, and we’re going to get there,” said Pacchia.
Other than that, Pacchia’s ambitions are hardly modest: he wants nothing more than “a PubKey in every city…”
“…except for Boston.” (He added the latter with a laugh.)
For now, though, I think he’ll settle for some rest before his new venue’s grand opening next month.