Johann Wilfred
Every year on May 22nd, crypto enthusiasts remember and celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day, an event that saw the purchase of 2 pizzas for 10,000 BTC in 2010.
“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. I like having leftover pizza to nibble on later. You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I’m aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don’t have to order or prepare it myself, kind of like ordering a ‘breakfast platter’ at a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you’re happy!
I like things like onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc.. just standard stuff no weird fish topping or anything like that. I also like regular cheese pizzas which may be cheaper to prepare or otherwise acquire.”
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This was the initial post by Laszlo Hanyecz that sparked off the first-ever purchase of something with BTC. At the time, Bitcoin was a concept and currency only known to programmers and techies. But this transaction proved that Bitcoin was something that could be used to help facilitate the exchange of goods and services.
The thread of posts on the forum shows that many people offered to get Laszlo his pizzas. In the end, a British man agreed to the proposed transaction, getting the programmer two pizzas in exchange for 10,000 BTC, which was valued at $41 at that time.
After the price of Bitcoin rapidly shot up, comments on the forum started to ramp up with people discussing how expensive those two pizzas ended up being.
In 2013, as told to the New York Times, Hanyecz’s comments indicated that he really had no regrets about trading the digital currency in exchange for pizza.
“It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,” said Hanyecz.
Today, 10,000 BTC would be worth a total of $1.1 billion. While many may see this transaction as a missed opportunity to make money on what ended up being the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated as the historic day when cryptocurrency experienced a significant breakthrough in its utility.
