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

cointelegraph.com:

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 widely accepted cryptocurrency, the bar and workspace offer workshops, coworking spaces for local businesses and Bitcoin-inspired cocktails.

Adam, the founder (who chose not to share his surname), first heard about Bitcoin in 2012 and has spent the past 10 years experimenting with ways to onboard and educate people about the magic internet money. He told Cointelegraph over a beer — paid for by Bitcoin over the Lightning Network — that it’s the first of many forays into the Bitcoin business.

Everything in the space — absolutely everything — is Bitcoin-themed or Bitcoin-branded. From orange being the dominant color to rare Bitcoin art adorning the walls to the hand dryer in the loos, which generates heat from — you guessed it — a Bitcoin miner plugged in upstairs.

Adam explained that over the past four years, he’s focused his efforts on Bitcoin merchant adoption, a growing trend in the United Kingdom. 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.

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

An example that’s part of a wider trend, Bitcoin businesses in the United Kingdom are beleaguered by banks. Adam’s experience is no different: He had issues with Barclays while operating a U.K.-based crypto festival called