Blog > > Articles

What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?

In many ways it’s the perfect combo: Bitcoin and pizza.

But would you spend 78 million dollars’ worth of Bitcoin on two pizzas?

That’s the question the crypto community asks once a year on Bitcoin Pizza Day.

It’s a legendary story: On May 22 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz used 10,000 Bitcoin to buy two takeaway pizzas.

This was a big moment: for the first time, Bitcoin seemed like it was fulfilling its destiny as digital cash.

But we remember Bitcoin Pizza Day mostly for the fact that those 10,000 Bitcoins would now be worth 78 million dollars.

How the famous Bitcoin pizza transaction happened

Back in 2010 there were no retailers accepting Bitcoin. But on May 22 in Florida, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz wanted pizza. The problem was that he didn’t have any money. But he did have some Bitcoin.

Laszlo logged onto the Bitcointalk forum to see if anyone could help.

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. 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.

If you're interested please let me know and we can work out a deal.

Thanks,

Laszlo

Laszlo sent his 10,000 Bitcoin to another forum member, Jercos, who ordered two pizzas from Papa John’s.

Showing Bitcoin’s potential

Even though the purchase of pizza with Bitcoin was technically a secondary transaction, the exchange still showed what could be achieved with Bitcoin – an important day in Bitcoin history.

At that time, Bitcoin was worth just 0.003 USD. Today it’s trading at around 8,000 USD

As for Laszlo Hanyecz, he tries not to think about it all too much.

Bitcoin was worth less than a penny when Laszlo Hanyecz was trading it for pizza. If he’d held onto all his bitcoin instead, he’d now have hundreds of millions of dollars. He tries not to think about that https://t.co/HcF6DJoCu3 pic.twitter.com/cInuQmv6RO
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 19, 2019