The date was 14 years ago on 22 May, 2010, and the man bought two pizzas from Papa John’s. Simple enough, right? Well, he went on to make history by being a part of the first purchase with Bitcoin.
His name was Laszlo Hanyecz, and he had no idea about the significance of his actions back in 2010.
Back then though, it was an unknown and untapped market, prior to the financial revolution that would follow in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Bitcoin itself was founded in January 2009 by its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who mined the first ever block of the Bitcoin blockchain, contained a reward of 50 Bitcoin.
Laszlo Hanyecz made history with the first cryptocurrency purchase (Getty Stock Photo)
It would go on to have a meteoric rise in value in the years following, far beyond anyone’s predictions.
Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to skyrocket either, with the likes of Ethereum and Binance also following suit. However, back in May 2010, if you thought that the value of these cryptocurrencies would reach this value, you’d be laughed off the streets – though a select few benefitted from playing the long game.
This particular incident started when Hanyecz, a programmer, said that anyone that ordered him two pizzas from Papa John’s would get 10,000 Bitcoins.
“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 left over pizza to nibble on later,” he wrote on the Bitcoin Talk forum.
He further detailed: “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!”
All of that for just two pizzas… (Getty Stock Photo)
Speaking about what toppings he liked, he named the usuals – peppers, pepperoni, tomatoes, sausages but ‘no weird fish topping or anything like that’.
“If you’re interested please let me know and we can work out a deal,” he detailed.
So here it is: the value of 10,000 Bitcoin today sits at around $700 million (£579.1 million) in value.
Because of how significant this purchase was, 22 May has been known in the Crypto community as ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day’, as the first ever time that Bitcoin was used for commercial purposes, a glimpse into the future.
A British man and fellow Bitcoin enthusiast bought the pizzas for Hanyecz, with the 10,000 Bitcoin at the time worth just $41 (£33.92), even though the pizzas only cost $25 (£20.68).
In 2012, the worth of Bitcoin increased from cents years prior to a value of $12 (£9.93), hiking up to $658 (£544.41) by 2016, up to today’s value of $70,000 (£57,900) as of April 2024.
Looking back though, Hanyecz is happy to be a part of history and has no regrets.
