Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made an appearance at a New York City bar and restaurant known for accepting Bitcoin, marking him as the first former U.S. president to use the cryptocurrency in a transaction.

According to a September 18 post by Pubkey, Trump used Bitcoin to buy hamburgers at the NYC venue. BTC advocate and Professional Capital Management CEO Anthony Pompliano was present at the event, which was also reported on Trump’s Truth Social account.

This event occurred just two days after Trump announced the launch of a token through the World Liberty Financial crypto platform, managed by his family members.

Despite previously calling Bitcoin a “scam” and crypto "based on thin air," Trump has expressed support for BTC miners as part of his 2024 campaign and spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Pubkey’s marketing team did not confirm via Telegram if the BTC transaction was completed using the Lightning Network.

A video from the event showed Trump purchasing at least a dozen hamburgers, which he distributed to attendees, referring to them as “crypto burgers.”

Reports suggest that Trump holds at least $1 million in crypto. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton also received Bitcoin at an event in 2016.

During the event, Trump claimed he "had a real chance at winning" New York's electoral votes in November, despite the state consistently voting for Democratic candidates since 1988. An August ActiVote poll showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by 16 points in the state.

Unlike Trump, Harris has not included crypto in her campaign. Industry experts speculate that she is unlikely to diverge significantly from the Biden administration’s policies on crypto and blockchain.

However, in August, one of Harris' senior advisers stated that the vice president would "support policies" that foster growth in the crypto industry.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/donald-trump-bitcoin-transaction-burger-nyc-bar

https://x.com/PubKey_NYC/status/1836510708634390680

https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1836515361145205141