Former president Donald Trump marked Free Cheeseburger Day on Wednesday by showering supporters in Greenwich Village, New York City with free burgers at a bitcoin-themed bar named PubKey. The event marked one of the first times a former president publicly paid for a transaction in bitcoin.

At the venue, Trump exhorted supporters to vote in November, and reminded the bitcoin community that he was committed to creating a more pro-crypto regulatory environment.

For PubKey co-owner Thomas Pacchia, the experience was "surreal," according to media reports. "It was surreal, we're still processing, I would say," Pacchia told "The Bottom Line. He was incredibly kind and generous with his time. He wanted to make sure he saw everybody, bought some hamburgers. [The] transaction went through. What's not to like?"

Despite once designating crypto a “scam,” Trump has fervently courted the crypto industry in recent months to recruit fundraising dollars. Earlier this year, he appeared as the headline speaker at the annual Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, where he promised to unseat U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler and appoint a more crypto-friendly head to the SEC. The promise generated raucous applause from members of the crypto community, which has long accused Gensler of adopting an anti-crypto posture.

This past July, Trump also invited up to 150 crypto high-rollers to spend $844,600 a seat on a roundtable event where they were eligible to snap a photo with the former president. Earlier this summer, it was reported that Trump raised $25 million from the digital asset industry.

“I’m proud to be the first major party nominee in American history to accept donations in bitcoin and crypto, and they’ve made a lot of them I might tell you, and I appreciate it. Since we made that announcement on May 21, we have already raised $25 million — much of it in bitcoin, crypto, and others that are very, very good also,” Trump said.