It was probably one of the first stationary shops in the world where customers could pay with Bitcoin crypto money: the burger bar Room 77 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. But now the pub will finally close its doors, announced operator Joerg Platzer via Reddit. Since spring 2011 the bar had accepted Bitcoin as a means of payment – Bitcoin was still a long way from today’s rates and one of the first large speculative bubbles on the long-gone Mt. Gox exchange was imminent.

The mission to make a really hard money palatable to mankind has been fulfilled and you can now return to your home planet, from which you once came , it says in the farewell posting, which is an allusion to the sci-fi satire “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Platzer confirmed the end to heise online: “The Bitcoin is now big enough to get along without a Kreuzberg rock’n’roll bar.” Corona regulations and an upcoming renovation of the building were the decisive factors for the closure.

The Bitcoin-Kiez Numerous members of the Bitcoin community regretted the end and recalled memories of the first place where they could actually spend Bitcoin for the first time. The Room 77 is one of the central places for the development of the European Bitcoin scene, community members from all over the world met there, numerous journalists visited the bar to talk about the ” Phenomenon Bitcoin “.

Owner Joerg Platzer describes himself as a Bitcoin evangelist and, as an activist, has repeatedly campaigned for the spread of crypto money. His pub on Graefestrasse in Kreuzberg was also the starting point for the “Bitcoin-Kiez”, an initiative of shops in the neighborhood that accepted all Bitcoin payments. There were similar initiatives in other cities like London, Amsterdam and even Hanover. Germany’s first Bitcoin machine was also set up here.

Speculation instead of mass acceptance But the concept really took hold Bitcoin as everyday money at the checkout is not. Apart from very tech-savvy people, hardly anyone pays with it. In general, the vision of a free world currency for broad strata as a leitmotif of the crypto money scene seems to have had its day.