Think about the last time you were at a fancy restaurant. Was the bill more or less per person? Three hundred, four hundred reais? Thousand?
What if we told you that there was a single pizza that, considering current values, could buy Jay-Z's jet and still have a few million dollars left over?
No, you are not reading any insanity.
Come with us to find out more about what Bitcoin Pizza Day is!
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
On May 22, 2010, a programmer from Hungary, named Laszlo Hanyecz, made the first purchase in history of a physical item using cryptocurrencies. In this case, two peperoni pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. One day before being able to make this purchase, Hanyecz joined a Bitcoin enthusiast forum (which had been created in 2008, that is, it was still very recent) and launched a challenge: would send, via P2P transaction, ten thousand units of Bitcoin to anyone willing to buy him a pizza. This number of units was just a fraction of what he had already mined: at that time, he had around 70 thousand units in his wallet.
At the other end, an interested party emerged: a resident of California, who placed the order at a local pizzeria in Jacksonville and had it delivered to the Hungarian programmer's apartment.
Let's agree that the transaction was certainly not easy to carry out and is definitely far from being one of the cheapest, but it was from that day on that a lot changed and, therefore, every May 22nd Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated.
How much did that transaction cost? And how much would it cost today?
Based on the Bitcoin price on May 22, 2010, close to one cent per unit, the calculation is that the transaction was equivalent to US$41 dollars. Taking into account the exchange rate between Reais and Dollars at that time, which was in the range of R$1.85/US$1, these two pizzas cost R$75.85.
Perhaps, for that time, pizzas were not the cheapest available, but when we look at the current situation, we see that the cost of these two pizzas went to the moon and back.
Now, let's consider the price for 04/29/2024, in which Bitcoin registered a value close to US$63 thousand - and, in Reais, each unit slightly exceeded R$320 thousand :
With these prices recorded above, that same purchase of two pizzas for ten thousand units of BTC would mean that, today, this purchase, with ten thousand Bitcoins, would have cost US$629,949,400.00 (that's right, more than six hundred million dollars) or, if you prefer the value in Reais, just over 3 billion reais.
If you've been thinking the price of pizza in your region is expensive, now you've certainly thought that it's not that expensive!
Why is Bitcoin Pizza Day important?
Bitcoin Pizza Day represents a relevant moment, not only for the history of Bitcoin, but for the crypto universe as a whole. After all, it is a milestone that, albeit indirectly, registered the first integration between a digital currency and the real world.
Discussions about functions that can be performed by cryptocurrencies are diverse, mainly based on the assumption that, unlike currencies issued by central banks, in addition to each unit of a digital currency being unique and identifiable, different projects present the most varied functions (which not just the store of value or transaction capacity).
Even with this discussion open, what is perhaps the initial point of contact for most people is the question about âwhat can be bought in the real world with digital currenciesâ.
For those who know a little more about the crypto universe, the function of purchasing physical items is just one of the countless possibilities, but we cannot fail to take into account that, for many people, understanding that these purchases are possible is something that can represent a first important step towards this ongoing digital revolution.
What Bitcoin Pizza Day marks is the first transaction that integrates the crypto universe with the physical world, but in addition it also represents a new chapter in the history of money: it is the future of money!
Cryptocurrencies defend the freedom of money, they have the security of transactions provided by the blockchain, people can have custody of their assets, the market works on a 24x7 model and, in addition to being something capable of exciting those who understand a little about the subject, it also serves direct transactions - as direct as ordering a pizza.
This is an ongoing revolution because it democratizes the use of money. Long before what PIX provided in terms of fast and virtual transactions with Reais, Bitcoin opened the doors to a multitude of projects that expand the possibilities of how we can use money. And, again, Bitcoin Pizza Day is the direct representation of this, which is why it is worth remembering and celebrating!
From Pizza Day to the present day: a lot of difference!
At the beginning of this article we mentioned, before even talking about the transaction that gives this event its name, that things have changed a lot since then. And these technological facilitations, even though they are not directly related to the world of cryptocurrencies, bring acceptance and use capabilities that are much more relevant today than we had in the past.
In this transaction of ten thousand units of Bitcoin for two pizzas, we can consider an entire day between the moment we âorderedâ the pizza and the moment the purchase actually took place. Stop and think: this purchase literally took much longer than when we ordered things via phone and, even though orders today are made through a messenger (and not through a specific application), the distance between ordering something as simple as a pizza and receiving it at home doesn't usually take two hours.
Another huge difference is in the way transactions take place. On the day of the first transaction carried out with Bitcoin, in addition to having to wait for another party to agree, Hanyecz also had to send the asset from his wallet directly to the wallet of those who were enthusiastic about the idea (P2P). Nowadays, there are brokers, like Binance, that not only offer P2P services, but also offer other types of services where you can buy crypto in seconds, like Binance Convert.
In fact, a curiosity that involves precisely how this possibility is broader today than it was in the past: Hanyecz repeated the transaction many years later. But, don't be alarmed, he didn't leave the price of an apartment in two pizzas: this time the amount paid was 649 thousand satoshis (i.e. 0.00649 Bitcoin), which was equivalent to US$62 for the same two pizzas. Ah, another interesting difference: he used the Lightning Network, which is a network that exists to promote transactions using Bitcoin in a faster and cheaper way.
What can you buy with cryptocurrencies in 2024?
If you still haven't convinced yourself that buying physical items with cryptocurrencies is possible, let's present some establishments that already accept this type of payment: Microsoft (accepts BTC, BCH, ETH and USDT), Amazon (accepts payments indirectly in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash), Twitch (accepts payments in BTC, BCH, ETH and USDC), Burger King (gift cards can be purchased with cryptocurrencies) and Subway (similar to Burger King, but has allowed this since 2014).
âBut only small items can be acquired like this?â Negative: look at what was partly purchased with cryptocurrencies approximately a year ago:
The future of cryptocurrency acquisitions
Bitcoin Pizza Day may have been an individual, curious and memorable occurrence, but the existence of cryptocurrencies in transactions is, nowadays, more present and real than just âa thing for those who are enthusiastic about the subjectâ.
Through the development of mechanisms integrated into known platforms and also theWeb3, the possibilities are expanding before our eyes. A very recent and interesting example is the integration between Telegram and the TonCoin cryptocurrency: the messaging platform has allowed, for some years now, broadcast groups to be created so that people who create content can monetize them; The news is that, from now on, this remuneration will be effectively put into practice through this cryptocurrency:
Initiatives like this show that, unlike what some people think about cryptocurrencies being a distant and unattainable asset, available only to those with specific wisdom and knowledge almost similar to that of an alchemist, in reality the connections between digital currencies and everyday transactions are increasingly present.
In the case of Telegram, for example, there are around 800 million people on the planet using this application - considering data accumulated for 2023. WhatsApp, which has approximately 2.9 billion users (data from February 2024), if you choose by adoption similar to some crypto project, it could also bring this universe into relevant proximity.
Yes, cryptocurrencies are not only here to stay, they are closer to all of us than it may initially seem - and Bitcoin Pizza Day serves precisely to remind us of this.
Oh, and in case you've been wondering about the price of Jay-Z's jet: it's a Bombardier Challenger 850, valued at approximately US$40 million. At the current Bitcoin price, those two pizzas from 2010 would yield fifteen units of that huge executive jet and there would still be a nice amount left over to travel the world!
