A Massive Apple bar proprietor is bowing out — and banking on Bitcoin with what may very well be the primary cryptocurrency-only restaurant sale within the US.
This week, Patrick Hughes put his side-by-side Hell’s Kitchen watering holes, Hellcat Annie’s and Scruffy Duffy’s, up on the market. The worth tag: 25 Bitcoins or 800 Ethereum tokens for each, a worth of about $875,000 by present cryptocurrency costs.
“Crypto is on fireplace, it’s a scorching foreign money,” mentioned Hughes, 56, a Queens native who now resides in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, and whose household has been within the Manhattan bar enterprise since 1970. “It’s decentralized. It’s world.”
Fueled by ever-increasing debt and fears of a devalued American greenback, Hughes is amongst numerous buyers, establishments and on a regular basis People who see cryptocurrency as a legit various to the greenback.
NFL offensive deal with Russell Okung simply had his demand to be paid in Bitcoin fulfilled by the Carolina Panthers. PayPal launched a crypto trade late final 12 months. And federal regulators this week started permitting banks to settle transactions in cryptocurrencies.
The sale of Hellcat Annie’s and Scruffy Duffy’s might mark a brand new chapter in crypto ascendancy.
“I’m not conscious of some other bars or eating places which were bought for crypto solely,” mentioned Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos Belief Firm, which focuses on cryptocurrency infrastructure. “However increasingly more folks take a look at crypto as a financial instrument. We’re actually at a tipping level of its acceptance.”
Earlier than the pandemic, Hughes employed 50 folks at his two institutions. He’s now all the way down to “5 – 6” however mentioned he has survived higher than many, largely by remaining closed all through most of 2020.
“I performed golf, learn books, labored on the home and taught myself easy methods to make cartoons,” mentioned Hughes, who launched a Scruffy Duffy’s YouTube channel to show his animated movies. He hopes to proceed with the artwork type as soon as he and his spouse, with whom he has three youngsters, transfer down South if the bars promote.
He reopened Hellcat Annie’s in November, full with an open-air cabin on Tenth Avenue, and mentioned that bar gross sales are almost again to pre-pandemic ranges. Scruffy Duffy’s stays closed pending the return of indoor eating. (Hughes and a accomplice opened Scruffy’s on Eighth Avenue in 1990, then Hughes alone moved it to the present location in 2019. Hughes relaunched Annie’s in 2009, after working it as Pony Bar for eight years.)
Hughes laments the struggling the shutdown precipitated for therefore a lot of his pals within the trade, however mentioned the disaster cemented his pre-pandemic want to get out of the enterprise.
“I’m hoping to catch certainly one of these crypto dudes who all the time wished to personal a bar,” mentioned Hughes, noting that he has put an indication out entrance to lure in curious potential patrons.
Not everyone seems to be bought on crypto simply but, although.
“I don’t suppose the greenback goes wherever anytime quickly,” mentioned NYC actual property appraiser Henry Salmon, president of Fairness Valuation Associates. “The greenback on the world market nonetheless has a number of worth.”
Hughes mentioned he has obtained just a few informal inquiries. However he’s assured he’s on the correct aspect of historical past.
“The subsequent disaster, you received’t need to run out and purchase bathroom paper,” he mentioned. “You may simply use your {dollars} as an alternative.”
