Raising a glass to Satoshi’s Place and the challenge of running Bitcoin businesses

by · September 21, 2022

Cointelegraph took a trip to Satoshi’s Place on Friday, a Bitcoin (BTC) hub in Greater Manchester. Named after the anonymous creator of the world’s largest and most accepted cryptocurrency, the bar and workspace offers workshops, coworking spaces for local businesses and Bitcoin-inspired cocktails.

Adam, the founder (who chose not to share his last name), first heard about Bitcoin in 2012 and has spent the last 10 years experimenting with ways to onboard and educate people about the magical internet money. He told Cointelegraph over a beer – paid for by Bitcoin over the Lightning Network – that it is the first of many attacks on the Bitcoin industry.

Everything in the room – absolutely everything – is Bitcoin-themed or Bitcoin-branded. From orange as the dominant color to rare Bitcoin art adorning the walls to the hand dryer on the roof, which generates heat from – you guessed it – a Bitcoin miner connected upstairs.

The “Gold Rush” was the most popular cocktail of the night.

Adam explained that over the past four years he has focused his efforts on Bitcoin merchant adoption, a growing trend in the UK. Satoshi’s Place began life as a coffee shop and then a pizzeria back in 2018. At first, customers could buy coffee with Bitcoin and even use a Bitcoin ATM to buy and sell Bitcoin, “back when it was legal,” he joked.

“People were putting £20,000 worth of cash into an ATM every month. From teenagers to I think the oldest was 93 years old.”

Bitcoin ATMs were forced to close by the Financial Conduct Authority in March this year. Adam explained that despite doing everything by the book — “a complete exchange system literally down to the minute,” — the banks made life difficult.

An example that is part of a wider trend, Bitcoin businesses in the UK are under siege by banks. Adam’s experience is no different: he ran into trouble with Barclays while operating a UK-based crypto festival called CoinFest and has had bank accounts blocked and emails ignored despite his best efforts to do business overboard.

Satoshi’s Place is his third attempt to create a separate space for Bitcoin enthusiasts and precoin players to meet and learn what money is, and why Bitcoin can be better. Thanks to the Lightning Network, a layer-2 Bitcoin solution, payments are now almost instant, frictionless and basically free. Many punters, Bitcoin enthusiasts and even newbies bought hamburgers and drinks with Bitcoin at the bar on Friday.

The bar uses solutions from Fast Bitcoins and CoinCorner, two Bitcoin companies based on the Isle of Man. CoinCorner’s team made the trip across the Irish Sea to mingle on Friday and host a Bitcoin workshop the following day.

Elsewhere, Nathan Day, “Pleb at Large” and contributor to BTCMap.Org, demonstrated an open-source map to show where Bitcoiners can spend Satoshis, Bitcoin-themed games. Jordan Walker, CEO of Bitcoin Collective, the group behind the UK Bitcoin Conference, was tutored by Day’s son on Sats-Man (like Pac-Man, but with Satoshis).

Related: UK’s ‘Bitcoin Adventure’ Shows BTC Is a Family Affair

The workshops at Satoshi’s Place will be as close to free as possible and open to all: Bitcoin, the currency does not discriminate, after all. Workshops in the front room workspace cover “Everything from Lightning education to Bitcoin for kids, Bitcoin development, all different types. There are about 16 hosts that I’ve got so far that want to do workshops.”

It has been more than a decade since Satoshi Nakamoto stepped away from public involvement in the blockchain community. It makes you wonder what they would have thought of rooms like this, all these years later.