NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump made history at a New York City bar on Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. president to do so. Bitcoin is used to complete transactions.
Ahead of a campaign rally in Long Island, Trump, 78, used the cryptocurrency to pay for burgers and beers bought by patrons at Pub Key, a Manhattan bar and restaurant famous for accepting bitcoin payments.
“I just completed my first transaction in Bitcoin,” the former president declared, to cheers from cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Trump appears to have completed the transaction using a mobile phone and tablet in the bar, with the help of Pub Key employees.
The payment was “very easy,” he said.
“Let's make Bitcoin great again,” Trump said as bar patrons cheered after he paid the bill.
In a social media post, Pubkey called the moment “one of the most historic transactions in #BitcoinHistory.”
The price of Bitcoin has increased by over 500% over the past five years, with the current price of one Bitcoin being $61,248.50.
Trump's photo op at the Bitcoin Bar came the same week he spoke about cryptocurrencies at the launch of World Liberty Financial, a new crypto venture founded by businessman Steve Witkoff and the former president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The Republican presidential candidate explained at an X-Space event promoting World Liberty Financial that his sons, including 18-year-old Barron Trump, encouraged him to embrace cryptocurrency.
“He talks about wallets. He has four wallets,” Trump said of Barron.
“And I say, 'What is a wallet? Explain this to me.'”
In July, President Trump promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world” if elected to a second term.
“If Bitcoin goes to the moon — and as we say, it's going to the moon — I want America to be the lead country,” he said at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
Trump also promised to end the “cryptocurrency wars” with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and said he would fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, who is leading the regulatory crackdown on digital currencies.
The Trump campaign began accepting cryptocurrency donations in May, the same month Trump declared himself the “cryptocurrency candidate.”
