Former U.S. President Donald Trump continued his overtures to the cryptocurrency industry Wednesday when he sent a Bitcoin transaction during a stop at PubKey, a crypto-themed bar in New York.

Trump made the stop at the Manhattan bar ahead of his rally in Long Island on Wednesday. A Fox News video shows the Republican nominee entering the pub and then, with PubKey staff's assistance, completing a transaction, becoming the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to publicly use the Bitcoin network. Trump bought burgers at the bar, according to a PubKey social media post.

One of the most historic transactions in #bitcoin history was just made.

President @realDonaldTrump buying burgers at @PubKey_NYC with @tpacchia.

Block height: 861871

You saw it here first. pic.twitter.com/moHUIKDxej
— PUBKEY (@PubKey_NYC) September 18, 2024

The PubKey appearance comes two days after Trump spoke in support of World Liberty Financial, a crypto project he and several of his children are involved in. World Liberty formally launched Monday, and confirmed it will issue a governance token called WLFI.

Trump, who is running for president a third time, has sought the crypto industry's support over the past few months, speaking at an industry conference and promising to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet."

CORRECTION (Sept. 18, 22:03 UTC): Corrects subheadline and second paragraph to say PubKey staff, not a Trump aide, assisted the former president with the transaction.

Trump nyc Bitcoin US Elections Election 2024

Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. When he's not reporting on digital assets and policy, he can be found admiring Amtrak or building LEGO trains. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.

Aoyon Ashraf

Aoyon Ashraf is CoinDesk's managing editor for Breaking News. He spent almost a decade at Bloomberg covering equities, commodities and tech. Prior to that, he spent several years on the sellside, financing small-cap companies. Aoyon graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in mining engineering. He holds ETH and BTC, as well as ALGO, ADA, SOL, OP and some other altcoins which are below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.