PubKey Suspends Bitcoin Payments Amid Technical Issues

PubKey, a popular Bitcoin-centric dive bar in New York City and Washington, D.C., has suspended its Bitcoin payment system until further notice. The outage was announced on August 7 via PubKey's official account on X, but the reason for the disruption remains unclear.

The bar relies on Square's point-of-sale system to process Bitcoin transactions, which were introduced in 2025. This model allows businesses to seamlessly accept Bitcoin payments by plugging into a processor that handles conversion and settlement. However, when it doesn't work, businesses like PubKey are left telling customers to use an alternative payment method.

PubKey's New York location processes around 7% of its transactions in Bitcoin, with customers receiving a 21% discount for using the cryptocurrency. This discount is a nod to Bitcoin's hard cap of 21 million coins and reflects the bar's commitment to serving the Bitcoin community.