YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida, made history by buying two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 BTC. Cut to 2024: This so-called transaction has become well-known in the cryptocurrency community and has earned the festival-like title of ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day.’
The reason is part amusing and tragic: Hanyecz’s payment of 10,000 BTC was about $41 in 2010. But as of May 2024, those Bitcoin tokens cost around $700 million, meaning Hanyecz paid nearly $350 million for each pizza.
Flashback: What Happened on the Bitcoin Pizza Day?
On May 18, 2010, Hanyecz posted a request on the then-popular BitcoinTalk.org forum, saying:
“I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day.”
A Britisher accepted the offer and facilitated a purchase that would become the first commercial transaction involving Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Price Rockets Toward $10,000 Five Years Later
Bitcoin’s value increased dramatically after the original Bitcoin Pizza Day. For instance, the BTC price reached $1 nine months after the transaction, making the cost of two pizzas worth $10,000.
The price rally didn’t stop there. By 2015, on the fifth anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, the sale was worth $2.4 million. Today, Bitcoin’s price is at around $70,100, making Hanyecz’s pizza purchase a gross $700 million mistake.
Hanyecz has emerged as a true sport, in the meantime. He remains unfazed by his decision to dump his Bitcoin for extra carbs.
“It wasn’t like bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,”
he said.
Moral Of This Amazing Bitcoin Pizza Day Story
Kids, Bitcoin Pizza Day reminds us that BTC can grow in value significantly over time, given its escalation as a mainstream financial asset that protects its holders against inflationary pressures. Let’s not forget that the cumulative inflation in the U.S. has risen 45.6% since the 2008 economic crisis.
The same period has witnessed Bitcoin’s valuation grow by — hold your breath — 94 billion percent. Clearly, more and more investors have rotated their dollars into the Bitcoin market, notwithstanding companies like MicroStrategy, Tesla, Block, and others joining the race against inflation.
Bitcoin Pizza Day marked the start of BTC’s use in real-world transactions. Today, many businesses accept cryptocurrency, thanks partly to early transactions like Hanyecz’s.
