Brian Armstrong, the billionaire chief executive of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, sampled the fare at the Ashley’s Lemonade stand during a visit to Freedom Square in Hamilton yesterday.

The cofounder of Coinbase Global joined David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, and Michael Branco, the Hamilton mayor, for a photo-op to demonstrate how easy it is to participate in the on-chain economy.

Also on hand was G. Clay Miller, partner and head of community at Penrose Partners, the digital asset and “web3” advisory firm that consults for the Government on Bermuda’s on-chain ambitions.

In all the excitement of buying the refreshing lemonade, however, there was a hiccup when Mr Armstrong’s phone had difficulties connecting to the crypto point-of-sale terminal handled by the business owner, Ashley Stephens. There were a few tense moments before a transaction went through, thanks to others in his entourage.

According to Forbes, Mr Armstrong is worth nearly $7 billion, growing his net worth by $73 million (1.07 per cent) over the past year, and has a stake in Coinbase that includes some 17 per cent of the total shares.

The former Airbnb software engineer cofounded Coinbase in San Francisco in 2012 with former currency trader Fred Ehrsam.

He stripped some 14 per cent of staff from Coinbase this year, explaining cryptocurrency was on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenisation and more taking off.

He said the adjustment was needed make Coinbase “lean, fast, and AI-native”.

The photo-op comes shortly after Coinbase rival Binance suffered a massive security breach less than a fortnight ago, in which attackers needed less than half an hour to drain about $6.3  billion from Binance hot wallets across ten blockchains.

It was the largest crypto theft in history. Investigators attribute the attack to a North Korean group, while Binance says user losses will be fully covered.

The cyberattack has not slowed down the momentum or interest in digital payments, with Fitch Ratings reporting yesterday that instead it “has primarily altered how regulators and institutions view security, centralised exchanges, and the plumbing of digital currencies”.

CNBC said that, while cryptoasset prices experienced a brief, sharp decline immediately after the attack, the wider market has shown remarkable stability.