Bitcoin
The story behind $700 million in BTC spent on dinner
It’s Bitcoin Pizza Day: the story behind $700 million in BTC spent on dinner
Every year on May 22nd, the cryptocurrency community remembers and marvels at how a man paid for a pizza with bitcoin. While the story may seem benign and uninteresting at first glance, the details are completely shocking and have undoubtedly led to regret for some of those involved.
On May 22, 2010, Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the Bitcoin Talk forum, “Pizza for Bitcoins?” The post claimed that Laszlo would be willing to pay “10,000 bitcoins for some pizzas…maybe two large ones so I have some leftovers for the next day.”
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A British man accepted Laszlo’s offer and sent his two Papa John’s pizzas in exchange for 10,000 bitcoins. The man who bought the pizzas received $41 in bitcoin and only had to pay $25.
Obviously, the value of the 10,000 bitcoins has appreciated well beyond the US$41 they were worth on that day in 2010. At current prices, they are worth more than US$700 million, enough to buy more than two pizzas.
Laszlo continued 60 minutes in 2019 to discuss the transaction, saying he “thought it would be really cool if I could say, ‘Hey, I just traded this, you know, open source internet money for a real world good.'”
He also discussed Bitcoin Pizza Day, noting that “it’s really cool to have a holiday in my honor. Many crypto enthusiasts around the world celebrate this day every year as it marks the first time that Bitcoin has actually provided value to its users.
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The story has also become a legend in the crypto community as it shows the two main aspects of bitcoin: a form of payment and a store of value. Coinbase used the story to create commercials that make these points. In a recently ad releasedCoinbase shows how halvings impacted the price of bitcoin, using pizza as a means of explanation.
The ad shows that in 2012, one bitcoin was worth one pizza; In 2016, one bitcoin was worth a stack of pizzas, and in 2024, one bitcoin was worth a stack of pizzas. The ad was almost certainly inspired by Laszlo’s story, showing how bitcoin halvings have reduced future supply, which could help increase the value of a bitcoin and buy more and more pizza.
So every year on May 22nd, the crypto community serves a pizza toast to Laszlo Hanyecz, one of the first to use bitcoin as intended. This triggered a series of events that saw the price of 10,000 bitcoins go from $41 to more than $700 million.
The story continues
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This article It’s Bitcoin Pizza Day: the story behind $700 million in BTC spent on dinner originally appeared in Benzinga.com
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