How PubKey Revived Bitcoin Culture in New York City

“Welcome
home.”

That’s
what
Thomas
Pacchia
said
to
me
as
I
entered
his
bar,
PubKey,
located
below
street
level
in
Greenwich
Village,
New
York
City,
one
frigid
night
in
late-2023.

Pacchia’s
words
resonated
deeply
with
me,
as
I
hadn’t
yet
realized
how
much
I’d
come
to
appreciate
that
the
bar
had
begun
to
feel
like
a
home
away
from
home
—
or
at
least
an
oasis
—
in
a
jurisdiction
that
many
Bitcoin
enthusiasts
have
fled
in
the
wake
of
both
the
implementation
of
the

BitLicense
and
the
onset
of
COVID.

Thursday
night
meetups
and
programming
at
PubKey
(a
play
on
the
term
“public
key,”
a
technology
that
uses
asymmetric
encryption
to
validate
data
on
Bitcoin)
have
become
a
part
of
my
weekly
ritual.

The
bar’s
quirky
yet
inviting
atmosphere
makes
it
a
great
place
to
catch
up
with
other
Bitcoin
enthusiasts.
Its
dimly-lit
and
orange-tinged
front
room,
lined
with
brick
walls
painted
black,
has
a
dive-y
feel,
though
the
environment
still
feels
tidy
and
well-manicured.

Toward
the
end
of
the
bar
closest
to
the
entrance
is
the
PubKey
shrine,
replete
with
Bitcoin
memorabilia,
literature
and
tchotchkes.
Its
centerpiece
is
a
“Buy
₿itcoin”
sign,
number
four
of
a
series
of
21
from
the
“Bitcoin
Sign
Guy”,
Christian
Langalis,
who
was

famously
captured
in
a
photo
holding
an
identical
sign
while
sitting
behind
Janet
Yellen
during
her
tenure
as
chair
of
the
Federal
Reserve.

As
you
head
toward
the
back
of
the
bar,
you
pass
through
a
smaller
room
filled
with
whimsical
bitcoin-themed
posters
and
signs
as
well
as
a
photo
booth
and
a
retro
arcade
table,
before
entering
the
more
spacious
back
room,
which
Pacchia
calls
“the
attic”,
presumably
because
of
the
angular
shape
of
the
ceiling.
This
is
where
the
bar
holds
its
Bitcoin
meet-ups,
and
it’s
also
where
you’ll
hear
from
some
bigger
names
in
the
Bitcoin
space
who
have
presented
to
upwards
of
60
people
in
the
room.

I
recently
attended
an
event
at
the
bar
in
which
Bitcoin
evangelists
Max
Keiser
and
Stacy
Herbert
provided
an
overview
of
what
they
described
as
the
Bitcoin-fueled
“Renaissance
2.0”
happening
in
El
Salvador
and
another
in
which
James
Seyffart,
Bloomberg
ETF
analyst,
demystified
the
mechanics
of
the
new

spot
bitcoin
ETFs.

It’s
rare
to
catch
such
notable
voices
in
the
Bitcoin
space
in
such
an
intimate
environment.

So,
what
inspired
Pacchia
to
create
this
type
of
venue
in
a
city
that’s
been
anything
but
kind
to
Bitcoin?

“New
York
is
home,”
says
Pacchia,
who
grew
up
in
New
Jersey
but
has
been
based
in
New
York
for
some
time.
“I
love
New
York.
It’s
one
of
the
best
cities
on
the
planet,
and
it’s
not
perfect
—
like
anywhere
else.
But
there’s
a
lot
of
good
stuff
here.”

And
maybe
he’s
biased,
but
Pacchia
simply
doesn’t
buy
it
when
he
hears
people
say
New
York’s
best
days
are
behind
it.

“The
only
thing
that’s
been
declared
dead
more
often
than
Bitcoin
is
New
York
City,”
he
says.

He
would
know
just
how
often
Bitcoin
has
been
counted
out
over
the
years,
as
he’s
been
in
the
Bitcoin
space
for
well
over
a
decade.

“The
first
time
I
read
about
Bitcoin
was
in
the

Wired
article
in
November
2011,”
says
Pacchia,
referring
to
one
of
the
first
major
articles
published
on
Bitcoin.
“Then,
I
was
very
skeptical,
but,
you
know,
it
was
like
a
mind
virus
and
stuck
with
[me].
When
I
reached
a
certain
threshold,
I
was
like,
‘This
is
the
best
thing
ever.’
That
happened
in
late
2013.”

At
that
point,
he
decided
to
pursue
a
Master’s
in
Finance
—
his
third
graduate
degree
after
JD
and
LLM
degrees.

The
program
brought
him
to
Hong
Kong,
where
he
witnessed
the
importance
of
one
of
Bitcoin’s
most
oft-promised
use
cases
—
remittance
payments.

“In
Hong
Kong,
Sunday
is
the
day
off
for
most
domestic
helpers,”
says
Pacchia.
“There’s
a
very
bittersweet
thing
that
happens
every
Sunday
where
you
have
lots
of
women
from
Indonesia
and
[the]
Philippines
[who]
would
just
sort
of
put
out
space
and
party.
It
was
fun
and
really
cool
—
a
lot
of
karaoke
machines
and
dancing
and
stuff
like
that.
But
in
the
backdrop
was
always
a
Western
Union
[sign]
advertising
20%
remittance
[fees
for
payments]
back
to
the
Philippines.
That
was
a
really
galvanizing
moment
for
me.”

Upon
returning
to
New
York,
Pacchia
began
working
in
the
finance
sector
for
Bitcoin-friendly
companies
like
Fidelity
and
Digital
Asset
Holdings.
This
was
around
the
time
that
the
BitLicense
went
into
effect.

“I
think
a
decent
[number]
of
[Bitcoin]
builders
left
[New
York]
because
it
was
hostile,”
says
Pacchia.

During
the
years
that
followed,
Bitcoin
culture
in
New
York
City
was
mostly
kept
alive
by

BitDevs
NYC,
a
community
composed
predominantly
of
Bitcoin
developers.

“The
bedrock
of
Bitcoin
in
New
York
is
definitely
BitDevs,”
explains
Pacchia.
“BitDevs
kept
the
focus
on
Bitcoin,
which
was
really
important,
because
in
2016
[through]
2018,
there
was
a
lot
of
money
flowing
into
Ethereum.

Consensys
[hosted]
lots
of
mixers.
There
was
crypto
Mondays
and
Ripple
stuff
and
Cardano
stuff,
and
there
was
lots
of
money
being
thrown
around
by
VCs
to
have
events.
It’s
easy
for
people
to
get
distracted
by
shiny
objects,
and
Bitcoin
didn’t
really
have
a
shine
to
it.”

During
this
era,
Pacchia
hosted
an
event
at
the
bar
called

Formerly
Crow’s
—
which
was
at
PubKey’s
location
before
PubKey.

“I
would
[host]
‘Crypto
at
the
Crow’,”
Pacchia
says.
“It
would
be
about
20
or
30
people
that
had
a
happy
hour
here,
and
[we
discussed]
almost
all
Bitcoin
stuff.
[The
meetings]
were
informal
and
not
necessarily
organized.”

That
was
when
Pacchia
started
hosting
Bitcoin
meetups
for
the
less
technically
inclined.

COVID
challenged
both
groups.

“COVID
hit
[and]
a
lot
of
the
public-facing
influencers
went
to
Austin
[or]
Nashville,”
Pacchia
says.
“BitDevs
wasn’t
able
to
meet.
Consistency
is
key
for
these
meetups,
and
that
shook
some
people
out.”

But
in
the
fall
of
2022,
Pacchia,
along
with
his
two
partners,
Greg
Minasian
and
Andrew
Newman,
opened
PubKey
—
without
a
single
one
of
them
having
much
idea
of
what
they
were
getting
into.

“None
of
us
had
any
hospitality
background
or
experience,”
Pacchia
says.

And
still
they’ve
made
it
work,
as
the
bar
attracts
a
steady
stream
of
seasoned
Bitcoin
veterans
and
those
new
to
Bitcoin.

Today,
he
says
the
old
bitcoiner/new
bitcoiner
split
is
about
50/50.
But
the
recent
ramp
up
in
prices
has
definitely
brought
more Bitcoin-curious
through
the
doors.

“It
really
started
to
pick
up
in
October-November
[2023],”
says
Pacchia.
“That’s
where
we
went
from
20
people
at
a
meet-up
to
consistently
40
or
so.
Now,
on
Thursdays,
we
get
people
across
the
entire
Bitcoin
[and]
crypto
industry
[as
well
as
those
in]
TradFi.”

“Being
in
a
Bitcoin
environment
allows
me
to
meet
up
with
people
that
are
like
minded,”
says
Isaac,
a
meet-up
regular.
“If
I
have
a
question
or
I’m
interested
in
something,
it
gives
me
an
opportunity
to
brainstorm
it
with
people
that
are
familiar.
PubKey
has
created
a
very
warm
environment.”

When
I
asked
Pacchia
if
he
thought
it
might
have
been
easier
to
do
what
he’s
done
with
PubKey
in
a
friendlier
jurisdiction
outside
New
York),
he
said:

“We
want
to
be
beachheads.
We
want
to
plant
a
flag
in
the
sand.
Bitcoiners
need
more
playmakers.
We
need
people
[who]
are
just
going
to
do
stuff.
Stepping
up
and
doing
a
thing
is
hard,
but
it’s
worth
it
—
and
I
think
that
Bitcoiners
[get
that].”