In May 2010, a historic event took place: the first-ever exchange of bitcoin for physical goods. Laszlo Hanyecz, an early bitcoin enthusiast and contributor, paid 10,000BTC for 2 Papa John's pizzas. This transaction is now both mocked and celebrated, with some considering it a wasteful use of what would later become a valuable asset worth over half a billion dollars, while others see it as a pivotal moment in bitcoin's history. This event is commemorated as Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22.

At that time, bitcoin was just over a year old, its creator Satoshi Nakamoto remained active, and its value was less than a penny on the recently launched first bitcoin exchange. It was far too early for any business, including pizzerias, to accept bitcoin as payment due to its limited awareness. So, how did the pizza transaction happen?

On May 18, Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the Bitcointalk forum offering 10,000 bitcoin in exchange for 2 pizzas. With a small number of bitcoin users at that time, it took four days and some persistence to find someone willing and able to accept the deal.

Finally, on May 22, Laszlo updated the forum thread to announce the successful trade of 10,000 bitcoins for pizza, sharing pictures of the meal and expressing gratitude to a person named Jercos who had made the purchase on his behalf.

Jercos, also known as Jeremy, was another early bitcoin enthusiast residing thousands of kilometers away from Laszlo. However, distance did not hinder the transaction. They communicated through IRC to finalize the deal and arranged for a Papa John's delivery to Laszlo's house.

Considering the low price of bitcoin at the time, Jercos received a modest payment of about $42 worth of bitcoin for the pizzas that cost $25. As the value of bitcoin surged over time, this payment gained significant value. Initially, the transaction went unnoticed, with only two other users commenting on it. It was months later, after bitcoin's price had risen substantially, that others began to pay attention. Comments started pouring in, and a Bitcoin Pizza Index was even created to track the increasing value of those 10,000 bitcoins, which eventually reached a worth of over half a billion dollars.

Jercos sold the bitcoin he received much earlier, benefiting from a tenfold price increase to cover his expenses while traveling. Meanwhile, Laszlo continued making pizza purchases throughout 2010, spending a total of around 100,000 BTC.

While many headlines mock Laszlo for his pizza payment, implying he spent billions on pizza (which is incorrect), it is crucial to understand that bitcoin was considered a worthless novelty back then. It could be easily mined at home or obtained for free from bitcoin faucets. In that context, Laszlo has no regrets about spending his bitcoin on pizza. He is grateful that his involvement in an open-source project provided him with free meals. In an article for Bitcoin Magazine, he stated, "usually hobbies are a time sink and money sink, and in this case, my hobby bought me dinner."

Apart from the pizza transaction, Laszlo played a significant role in Bitcoin's history from a technical standpoint. He introduced GPU mining shortly before the pizza purchase, allowing him to mine thousands of coins per day while others were using less efficient CPUs. This development caused dissatisfaction with Satoshi Nakamoto, who feared that GPU mining would limit access to free coins. Some speculate that this interaction prompted Laszlo to make the pizza purchase as a way to redistribute some of the additional bitcoins he had earned.

Furthermore, Laszlo contributed to bringing Bitcoin Core to macOS, showcasing his importance in Bitcoin's technical advancement. However, his pizza purchase tends to overshadow his other contributions. The focus is often on the multi-million dollar pizza rather than his technical achievements.

The significance of the Bitcoin Pizza transaction lies in the fact that it marked the first real-world exchange of something valuable for bitcoin. At the time, bitcoin was seen as a novelty, akin to "monopoly money." The transaction demonstrated that bitcoin had practical value beyond speculative trading and paved the way for its future as a widely accepted form of money.

Considering the numerous failed attempts by other cryptocurrencies to even achieve a basic transaction like the pizza purchase, Bitcoin's success becomes even more remarkable. It was a one-year-old digital currency when this groundbreaking event occurred.

Once the pizza transaction set a precedent, more individuals began using bitcoin for transactions, particularly in darknet markets like the Silk Road. Over time, Bitcoin's perception shifted, with greater emphasis placed on its role as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange. However, this doesn't mean that efforts to promote bitcoin for payments have disappeared entirely. As Bitcoin continues to establish itself and technological solutions like the Lightning Network emerge, there may be a resurgence of using bitcoin for day-to-day transactions.

On February 25, 2018, Laszlo Hanyecz made another symbolic transaction using the Lightning Network. He became the first person to buy pizzas with this innovative payment system, paying just 649,000 Satoshis (0.00649 BTC). Whether this transaction will attain the same significance or absurdly high value as the original pizza purchase remains to be seen.

in conclusion, the Bitcoin Pizza transaction holds historical importance as it showcased the value of bitcoin beyond speculation and established a precedent for real-world exchanges. It was a pivotal moment in Bitcoin's journey toward becoming a widely accepted and respected form of money, despite initial perceptions of it as a worthless novelty.

#binancepizza #feedfeverchallenge #BRC20 #dyor #btc

Tether, the stablecoin enterprise, has revealed its intention to devote 15% of its profits to bitcoin. The firm’s announcement comes on the heels of Tether’s recent attestation report, which emphasized the company’s possession of bitcoin reserves worth $1.5 billion.

Tether’s Strategic Shift: Profits to Fuel Bitcoin Acquisition

Tether, the company behind the crypto economy’s largest stablecoin asset, has unveiled its strategic vision to acquire bitcoin (BTC) using its profits. “Starting this month, Tether will regularly allocate up to 15% of its net realized operating profits towards purchasing bitcoin (BTC),” the firm detailed in a blog post. “Tether anticipates that the current and future BTC holdings in its reserves will not exceed the Shareholder Capital Cushion and will further strengthen and diversify the reserves,” the stablecoin issuer added.

Prior to the announcement, the company’s latest attestation report showcased its possession of $1.5 billion in bitcoin reserves. Notably, the report also indicated that a significant portion of Tether’s reserves, amounting to $3.39 billion, is invested in precious metals. The company’s announcement on Wednesday said that the investment underscores its confidence in bitcoin as a robust store of value. “The decision to invest in bitcoin, the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency, is underpinned by its strength and potential as an investment asset,” Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, said.

The Tether executive added:

"Bitcoin has continually proven its resilience and has emerged as a long-term store of value with substantial growth potential. Its limited supply, decentralized nature, and widespread adoption have positioned bitcoin as a favored choice among institutional and retail investors alike.

Tether’s announcement comes at a time when its stablecoin asset USDT is scaling toward USDT’s peak market capitalization. On May 8, 2022, USDT achieved an all-time high (ATH) market cap of $83.279 billion. Presently, it stands awfully close to that ATH, valued at $82.67 billion. In a bid to sustain the growth trajectory of the stablecoin issuer, the company said its integration of bitcoin stands as a pivotal maneuver.

“By incorporating Bitcoin into its investment strategy, Tether aims to capitalize on the digital asset’s potential growth, while leveraging its position as a trusted and reliable financial infrastructure provider,” Tether concluded on Wednesday.

#feedfeverchallenge #BTC #crypto2023 #dyor #Binance

Dogecoin rose to a one-week high on Wednesday, despite cryptocurrency markets mostly moving lower. As of writing, the global crypto market cap is trading nearly 1% lower. Xrp also surged, climbing by over 6% in today’s session.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE) was able to climb to a one-week high in today’s session, despite markets mostly trending lower.

Following a low of $0.07177 on Tuesday, DOGE/USD raced to an intraday high of $0.07422 earlier in the day.

Today’s rally saw dogecoin climb for a second straight session, which pushed the meme coin to its highest point since May 8.

DOGE/USD-daily chart

As a result of the move, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) collided with a key resistance level of 40.00.

Although the index has moved marginally above this point, and is currently tracking at 40.40, DOGE has lost slight momentum.

The meme coin is now trading at $0.073, which is relatively lower than today’s earlier high.

XRP

Another notable gainer on Wednesday was XRP, formerly ripple, which rose by as much as 6% today.

XRP/USD rose to a peak at $0.4596 earlier in the day, which follows on from a low of $0.4202 during yesterday’s session.

This has resulted in the token climbing for a fourth consecutive day, reaching its strongest level since May 7.

XRP/USD-Daily chart

Looking at the chart, and similar to DOGE, a collision has occurred on the RSI, with a failure to break a wall at 48.00.

At the time of writing, price strength is at the 47.33 mark, with the price now at $0.4457.

Should this point be broken, there is a good chance that XRP could be heading to a resistance of $0.48350.

Bitcoin fell below the $27,000 level on May 17, as market uncertainty remained high amidst the debt ceiling crisis in the United States. Congress continues to negotiate terms of a potential increase to the limit, before the U.S. government runs out of cash on June 1. Ethereum also dropped, breaking out of the $1,800 level.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) moved below the $27,000 level on Wednesday, following yesterday’s U.S. Retail Sales report.

BTC/USD moved to a low of $26,785.41 earlier in today’s session, which was following Tuesday’s peak at $27,223.07.

Today’s sell-off comes as bitcoin was unable to move beyond its key price ceiling at the $27,300 mark, leading to a shift in bearish sentiment.

Looking at the chart, the decline also coincided with the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) failing to break its point of resistance at 42.00.

As of writing, price strength is tracking at 38.08, and seems to be heading close to a support zone of 36.00.

Should this point be reached, then there is a strong possibility that BTC could slip below $26,000.

Ethereum

In addition to BTC, ethereum (ETH) also trended lower, falling under the $1,800 level in today’s session.

Following a high of $1,835.55 on Tuesday, ETH/USD plunged to an intraday low of $1,792.08 earlier in the day.

As a result of today’s drop in price, ethereum neared a long-term floor of $1,790, which is where price has retreated to during the past week.

Similar to BTC, the RSI here is also edging closer to a floor of its own, which in this instance is at the 41.00 point.

Price strength, which is currently at the 41.97 level, was unable to breach a resistance zone of 47.00, leading to today’s drop-off.

There is a good chance that ETH could change course in the upcoming days, providing the floor at 41.00 remains firm.

#feedfeverchallenge #crypto2023 #dyor #BNB #Binance

On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis Block on a small server in Helsinki, Finland, and received a reward of 50 bitcoins, which marks the beginning of crypto mining.

From CPU to ASIC

In Satoshi Nakamoto’s initial vision, BTC mining could be performed using CPUs installed on PCs. During its infancy, Bitcoin remained obscure and offered no value.

It wasn’t until 2010 when Bitcoin enthusiast Laszlo Hanyecz argued that GPUs could perform more computations per second than CPUs and tried to use GPUs for mining, and he was correct. After Hanyecz shared his GPU mining code with the community, Bitcoin saw its first hashrate surge by 20,000 times, from 6 MH/s in January 2010 to 120 GH/s in December 2010.

What’s interesting is that Hanyecz, who introduced GPU mining, was also the one who started Bitcoin Pizza Day. Hanyecz earned plenty of bitcoins through the GPU mining approach he invented and spared no efforts to promote the crypto. For instance, the guy bought two pizzas with 10,000 BTC, giving real value to the new currency for the first time.

The appearance of GPU mining and the surging BTC price led to a mining arms race, and miners were constantly seeking new ways to improve their hashrate. In 2011, someone shared the code of FPGA mining machines on GitHub, which started a new era dominated by specialized mining rigs. In 2011, the Bitcoin hashrate rose from 116 GH/s at the beginning of the year to nearly 30 TH/s at the end of the year, a nearly 300X growth.

2012 saw the birth of ASIC mining machines, which are superior models, and the Bitcoin hashrate skyrocketed from 20 TH/s to 12 PH/s, an increase of 600 times. Since then, ASIC models have replaced CPUs, GPUs, and FPGA machines as the mainstream BTC mining machine.

From Solo Mining to Pool Mining

The growing hashrate raised new concerns — Is bitcoin mining still profitable as more and more miners join the business? Upon realizing the limitations of solo mining, Czech programmer Marek Palatinus found a solution: unite BTC miners, pool the resources, and share the profits. In 2010, Marek started slushpool, the world’s first mining pool. Since then, BTC mining has gradually transitioned from solo mining to pool mining.

Although mining pools gather a large number of miners, miners are not always tied to one pool, which has led to the sudden rise and fall of many pools. For instance, in 2013, GHash.IO attracted plenty of miners with its zero-fee policy. By 2014, the pool’s peak hashrate had even surpassed 51%, raising concerns in the Bitcoin community. However, this giant pool eventually shut down in 2016 due to repeated large-scale DoS attacks.

Clearly, mining pools demand strong technical capacity. In the early days, many pools underestimated the technical requirements of the industry. As a result, they suffered attacks and eventually shut down, just like GHash.IO.

Having realized the immature technologies and products in the pool industry, Haipo Yang, an early Bitcoin builder, decided to build a stabler and more efficient pool to empower BTC mining, a key channel for maintaining the normal operations of the network. In just two months, he independently completed the coding of ViaBTC Pool, which officially went live on June 5, 2016.

#feedfeverchallenge #BTC #crypto2023 #dyor #BNB

Over the past four days, there has been a surge in Ordinal inscriptions, and as a result, the BRC20 token economy has experienced significant growth with over 10,000 additional coins. The current value of the BRC20 token economy now stands at $497.75 million, comprising a total of 24,677 distinct tokens.

Bitcoin Users Issued More Than 10,000 New BRC20 Tokens In a Permissionless Fashion in 4 Days

Bitcoin is embracing functionalities that were previously synonymous with the Ethereum blockchain, such as the innovation of new tokens and the generation of non-fungible token assets. As the clock struck 10:43 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 16, the BRC20 token economy achieved an impressive valuation of $497.75 million.

Archived records indicate that the collective market capitalization of its 24,677 distinct digital tokens has soared 16.56%, surpassing the $427 million mark observed just four days earlier.

As of now, the largest market valuation in the BRC20 token realm is commanded by the ORDI (ORDI) token, which stands at $342 million. Each ORDI is currently being traded at $16.31, although it may not hold the title of the highest-valued coin per unit.

The MEME token, valued at $94.68 per coin, and the OSHI token, valued at $477.50 per unit, surpass ORDI in individual worth. However, both MEME and OSHI have considerably smaller supplies compared to the abundance of ORDI (21M), making them more scarce.

Parallel Surges: BRC20 Transactions and Bitcoin’s Backlog Converge

In the world of BRC20 tokens, PUNK token boasts a value of $243 per coin, and the token called GOLD holds a trading price of $19.82 per unit. Over the last 24 hours, a total of $206,705,219 in BRC20 trade volume has been generated, with ORDI trades accounting for $197.88 million of that sum.

The remaining BRC20 token markets observe trade volumes of $930,485 or even less during the same time frame. According to data from Dune Analytics, 5,906,735 BRC20 transactions have been successfully processed onchain.

The top nine BRC20 token by market cap

Just like the spike in Ordinal inscriptions witnessed on May 7, a parallel surge in transaction fees for deploying, minting, and transferring BRC20s coincided with the Bitcoin network’s backlog of unconfirmed transactions. The frenzied BRC20 activity occurred on May 7 and 8, 2023.

Interestingly, BRC20s face a similar controversy, stemming from the fact that they emerge from the same technological foundations. Bitcoin maximalists vehemently oppose both Ordinal inscriptions and BRC20s, wishing to confine Bitcoin’s blockchain to solely financial transactions. However, the wider market seems to embrace the trend, demanding its continuation and growth.

#feedfeverchallenge #BTC #Binance #crypto2023 #dyor

Litecoin rose for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, despite cryptocurrency markets mostly falling lower. The global market cap is currently down by 1.28%, as overall market uncertainty remains high. Apecoin also rallied, extending recent gains.

Litecoin (LTC) Litecoin (LTC) was once again in the green, as the token rose for a third consecutive session.

LTC/USD surged to a peak of $89.68 in today’s session, after starting the week at a low at $86.42. T

uesday’s rally has seen litecoin climb to its strongest point since April 30, which is the last time price was above $90.00.

LTC/USD-daily chart

From the chart, it appears that this level is once again the target for bulls, and could very likely be hit in the coming days.

After breaking out of a ceiling at 50.00, the relative strength index (RSI) is now tracking at 56.28.

The next visible point of resistance is now at the 59.00 mark, and should this be hit, not only will LTC be above $90.00, but likely closer to 92.00.

Apecoin (APE)

In addition to LTC, apecoin (APE) also surged on Tuesday, despite current market uncertainty.

Following a low of $3.33 to start the week, APE rose to an intraday high of $3.45 earlier in today’s session.

The gain comes as APE broke out of a ceiling at $3.35, resulting in price climbing to its highest point since May 8.

APE/USD-daily chart

APE has fallen marginally lower from earlier highs, as its RSI failed to overcome a resistance point at 38.00.

At the time of writing, price strength is at the 37.69 mark, with the price now at $3.42.

If bulls are able to break this wall, then there is a good chance that APE could continue its move towards $4.00.

#feedfeverchallenge #Binance #crypto2023 #dyor #BNB

On May 15, 2023, the number of Ordinal inscriptions surpassed the 7 million mark and as of 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday morning, 7,204,882 Ordinal inscriptions have been added to the Bitcoin blockchain. Miners have collected 1,324 bitcoin in fees by confirming inscription transactions which equate to roughly $35.86 million in added onchain fees.

Bitcoin’s Inscription Frenzy: Over 7 Million Ordinal Inscriptions and Counting

The unstoppable momentum of Bitcoin’s Ordinal inscriptions continues to defy detractors, surging past several milestones. With over 7 million inscriptions now firmly embedded in the blockchain, any skepticism toward demand surrounding this trend is being shattered. Today, on May 16, 2023, the tally stands at 7,204,882 inscriptions since the inaugural one occurred on December 16, 2022.

The world of inscriptions experienced a significant acceleration on April 21, 2023, when the count stood at a mere 1.24 million. In just 25 days since then, the number of Ordinal inscriptions has skyrocketed by over 480%, signaling an astonishing surge. Notably, May 7, 2023, emerged as the pinnacle of this inscription frenzy, with a record-breaking influx of inscriptions. It was on this day that Bitcoin’s mempool found itself congested with an overwhelming 500,000 unconfirmed transactions, a testament to the overwhelming demand and activity in the system.

30-Day Sales Stats Show Bitcoin’s Ordinal Inscriptions Have Bolstered NFT Market

Bitcoin miners have been handsomely rewarded for their role in processing inscription transactions, receiving 1,324 bitcoins (BTC) valued at $35.86 million. Notably, the pinnacle of these fees was witnessed on May 7, coinciding with the day when Bitcoin’s network fees surpassed the 6.25 BTC block subsidy. Intriguingly, the majority of Ordinal inscriptions take the form of plain text rather than JPEG images, with an overwhelming count of 6,402,199 inscriptions embracing the plain text format.

The realm of selling NFT collections has proven profitable for Ordinal inscriptions, amassing $93 million in sales over the past 30 days. As a result, Bitcoin has ascended to become the second-largest blockchain in terms of NFT sales this month, according to 30-day statistics from cryptoslam.io.

Notably, the market has recorded sales from popular Ordinal collections such as Pixel Pepes, Sub100k, Bitcoin Frogs, Space Pepes, Bitcoin Punks, and Sub10k. Out of the six highest-priced NFTs sold this month, five have emerged from the fertile grounds of the Bitcoin blockchain’s Ordinal inscribing technology.

Bitcoin was back in the green on Monday, as prices climbed back above the $27,000 level to start the week. Prices slipped to a two-month low over the weekend, however momentum has marginally shifted. Ethereum was also higher today.

Following a low of $26,762.25 on Sunday, BTC/USD raced to an intraday peak of $27,521.62 earlier in today’s session.

The move saw the world’s largest cryptocurrency continue to move away from a floor at $26,500, and a recent two-month low.

Monday’s rise in price sees bitcoin move higher for a second straight day, breaking out of a ceiling on the relative strength index (RSI) in the process.

At the time of writing, price strength is now tracking at 43.66, which is marginally above the aforementioned resistance at 43.00.

Bulls will now likely be looking to reenter the $28,000 level, which was last hit this past Thursday.

Ethereum (ETH) also made gains to start the week, as it moved beyond the $1,800 mark in today’s session.

ETH/USD rose to a high of $1,834.94 on Monday, less than 24 hours after falling to a bottom at $1,787.54.

Similar to BTC, today’s move is the second consecutive day ETH has risen, and comes following the recent eight-day losing streak.

This resulted in ethereum dropping to its weakest point since March, however it now appears that momentum has now shifted.

Price strength on ethereum has also risen, climbing above a key point of resistance at the 44.00 level.

The index is now tracking at the 45.85 mark, with the next ceiling at the 50.00 level.

#feedfeverchallenge #BTC #dyor #crypto2023 #BNB

Non-fungible token (NFT) sales witnessed a minor rise last week, registering a humble increase of around 1.46% compared to the preceding week. The cumulative value of NFT sales amounted to $149.31 million from April 29 to May 6, 2023. Nevertheless, the most recent week exceeded anticipations, as sales skyrocketed by 31.22%. Throughout the seven-day interval, NFT sales attained $208.17 million. The substantial rise in this week’s NFT sales can be credited to the appearance of NFTs originating from the Bitcoin blockchain.

Bitcoin-Based NFT Sales Gain Significant Momentum

Bitcoin NFT sales have emerged as a key contributor in the digital collectible sales landscape, among 21 distinct blockchains as per cryptoslam.io data documented on May 14, 2023. Ethereum NFT sales continued to reign supreme with $111.26 million in NFT sales; however, the runner-up position was held by Bitcoin-based NFTs, also known as Ordinal inscriptions. NFT Sales Surge 31% This Week as Bitcoin NFTs Secure Second Place in Blockchain Sales NFT sales over the last seven days according to cryptoslam.io statistics on May 14, 2023. Data demonstrates that Bitcoin NFT sales secured $53,433,451 and clinched the second-place position regarding blockchain sales out of the 21 chains.

Bitcoin’s NFT sales leaped by 187.54% compared to the prior week. NFT Sales Surge 31% This Week as Bitcoin NFTs Secure Second Place in Blockchain Sales The top five blockchains in terms of NFT sales on May 14, 2023. Mythos blockchain’s NFTs also experienced a sizable boost as NFT sales climbed by 69.66% to claim $11.73 million this previous week. The ascent propelled Mythos into the third-largest rank considering top blockchains by NFT sales volume. Solana, which formerly occupied the second-largest spot, now stands at fourth in terms of NFT sales per blockchain. In the last seven days, Solana recorded $8,789,106 – a reduction of 21.16% compared to the previous week. The fifth blockchain with the greatest sales volume for this past week was Polygon’s $7.79 million, decreasing by 7.07%.

NFT Sales Surge 31% This Week as Bitcoin NFTs Secure Second Place in Blockchain Sales The top five NFT collections in terms of sales on May 14, 2023. Regarding NFT collections, cryptoslam.io data discloses that “Uncategorized Ordinals,” essentially random Ordinals not part of any collection, achieved the top collection status in sales this week. Uncategorized Ordinals managed to register $15.62 million in NFT sales.

Ethereum’s Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) claimed the second spot this week with $13.80 million in overall sales within the past seven days. The Mythos chain’s Dmarket collection secured third place, and the majority of Mythos’ NFT sales stemmed from the Dmarket collection’s transactions.

In fourth place, ORDI BRC-20 NFTs documented $11,044,110 in weekly sales, while Ethereum’s Milady Maker NFT collection amassed $10,376,102 in sales during the identical timeframe and ranked fifth this week. A notable climber this week concerning NFT sales was Bitcoin-based Space Pepes with $4,607,834 accrued over the past seven days – a spike of 2,142.35% compared to the previous week.

Moreover, a single NFT from the series was sold for $4.5 million, making it the most expensive sale of the week. Interestingly, the remaining top five most valuable NFT sales in the past week all belonged to the Uncategorized Ordinals category.