- May 22 marks Bitcoin Pizza Day, the day that marks the first time that Bitcoin was used as a payment method to purchase a product.
- the day Laszlo Hanyecz decided to buy two large Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins.
- This fact would make Laszlo the first person to acquire a good using bitcoins and Jerco, the seller, the first person to sell them.
Anyone who has been in the cryptocurrency market for more than a year, especially knowing Bitcoin (BTC), will know that once a year a very special day is celebrated. Yes, it is about Bitcoin Pizza Day.
However, during the last year, the crypto community has grown and, therefore, many people are probably wondering: What is celebrated on this day? Why would there be a day for Bitcoin Pizza? Well here we will tell you all the details.
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
When the crypto market was still very young and the inherent potential of Bitcoin was unknown, it was not well known, and above all it was not used for transactions, until the May 22, 2010at which time BTC was priced at approximately $0.05 US dollars. This day would be marked as the first time in cryptocurrency history that it was used to buy physical goods.
And it is that, On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida, used 10,000 BTC to buy two Papa John’s pizzas. No, at that time said fast food chain did not accept Bitcoin. So how did Hanyecz go about paying with cryptocurrency?
The story behind Bitcoin Pizza Day
On May 18, Hanyecz made a post on a forum called Bitcointalk.org informing the community that he was looking to buy two pizzas, preferably large ones, using Bitcoin in some way. Hanyecz first wrote the following:
“I will pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas…maybe 2 large so I have some left over for the next day…You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it from a delivery place but what I want is have food brought to me in exchange for bitcoins where I don’t have to order or prepare it myself. It’s like ordering a ‘breakfast plate’ in a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you’re happy!
I like things like onions, peppers, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc, just standard stuff nothing weird like fish or anything like that. I also like regular cheese pizzas which can be cheaper to make or purchase.
I like things like onions, peppers, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc, just standard stuff nothing weird like fish or anything like that. I also like regular cheese pizzas which can be cheaper to make or purchase.
If you are interested, let me know and we can work out a deal.
Thank you, Laszlo”
Nor was it until on May 22 that 19-year-old Jeremy Sturdivant accepted Laszlo’s offer and bought the pizzas at Papa John’s, shipping them to Hanyecz in exchange for 10,000 BTC.
Yes, they were probably the most expensive Papa John’s pizzas ever as currently 10,000 BTC is worth $300 million USD.
10,000 BTC for two pizzas? It just can’t be!
After 12 years of this historical moment, many consider that it was one of the worst financial decisions in the history of humanity. However, we must try to travel to the past and position ourselves back then without the information we have about the future in order to judge the situation properly.
It is necessary to remember that Bitcoin was officially launched on January 3, 2009 and it was as a consequence of the financial collapse that occurred in 2008. In this way, Throughout 2009 and 2010, the price of the cryptocurrency was virtually zero yeVery few people knew Bitcoin at that time.
In fact, Laszlo Hanyecz was one of the first Bitcoin (BTC) miners, and probably most of that 10,000 BTC came from such activity.
Before the first Bitcoin halving that occurred in 2012, each successful miner was rewarded with 50 BTC per block. That is, Hanyecz only had to mine 200 blocks to get 10,000 BTC as a reward, and considering that there were not many miners on the network at that time, mining 200 blocks was not that difficult.
Why is this day so important?
Now the question to answer is: Why is this day still commemorated by the entire crypto ecosystem after 12 years? This day the community celebrates the fact that a small transaction marked the beginning of an entire era that we find ourselves living.
In fact, Hanyecz himself saw it the same way. In a 2019 interview with CBS, Hanyecz explained that the transaction “made Bitcoin real to some people. He certainly did it for me.”
That is how May 22, 2010 marked the beginning of the decentralized finance revolution, ushering in a free, accessible, and decentralized economy for all, and is that, after 24 months since the financial crisis, Bitcoin was offering hope to people tired of the traditional financial system.
Since that day, the community that believes in the potential of Bitcoin has done nothing but help it grow and mature. Thousands of merchants now accept Bitcoin, and beyond that, crypto remains the only fully decentralized and tamper-proof digital currency.
It is a day to remember all the journey that Bitcoin has made since its birth and that little things, even insignificant at the time, end up transforming the world.
In this way, every May 22, bitcoiners and pizza vendors celebrate with great enthusiasm. And of course, eating pizza is usually part of the celebration.
And you? Will you celebrate this May 22 by buying a pizza with Bitcoin?
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