What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
Have you heard of Bitcoin Pizza Day? Why do people in the crypto community celebrate it every May 22nd? What is the origin of Bitcoin Pizza Day? This article will tell you the story of Pizza Day and its significance to the cryptocurrency industry!
Bitcoin Pizza Day: Engineer buys 2 large pizzas for 10,000 BTC
What is the origin of Bitcoin Pizza Day? On May 22, 2010, an engineer named Laszlo Hanyecz wanted to order pizza, but suddenly wanted to pay with Bitcoin, and a 19-year-old young man agreed to the transaction. In the end, the engineer exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins ($BTC) for 2 large slices of pizza.
You know, at that time, Bitcoin had only been around for about 2 years, and only a few people knew about this "electronic cash" for peer-to-peer transactions, and Hanyez was one of them. Not only did he understand Bitcoin, he even participated in mining and obtained a large number of Bitcoins.
Although Bitcoin was called electronic cash by Satoshi Nakamoto, no one knew how to use it for transactions at the time, and Hanyez was willing to be a pioneer. On May 18, 2010, he posted on the Bitcoin Talk forum that he was willing to exchange 10,000 Bitcoins (worth $41 at the time) for 2 large slices of pizza.
Source: Bitcoin Talk Forum
On May 22, 2010, an engineer exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza
Hanyez did not find the seller soon after posting the post, but 4 days later (that is, 5/22), he announced the good news of successfully switching to pizza on the forum, and the seller was 19-year-old Jeremy. Sturdivant).
Source: Bitcoin Talk Forum
On May 22, 2010, an engineer exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza
The picture below shows the 2 large slices of pizza that Hanyez got instead. They look very delicious!
Source: Laszlo Hanyecz
On May 22, 2010, an engineer exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza
Bitcoin Pizza Day Celebrated: First-ever BTC physical commodity transaction
Hanyez may not have known at the time that his move would be recorded in the history of Bitcoin development, because it was the first case in history of using Bitcoin to trade physical goods. To this day, although Bitcoin payment is still not popular, more and more users are using it to purchase more physical goods.
This is why crypto circles celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day every May 22, because without Hanyez and Stevant’s experiment, people might not have realized the physical transaction uses of Bitcoin.
Shockingly, the 10,000 Bitcoins that Hanyez exchanged for 2 large slices of pizza are now worth as much as $670 million (calculated as 1 $BTC = $67,000), 1 slice of pizza = $335 million , really the most expensive pizza ever!
Judging from the situation in 2024, many people may think Hanyezi's idea is stupid. If he had held 10,000 Bitcoins until now, he would have become a billionaire long ago. But instead of doing that, he chose to get 2 slices of pizza.
Source: The Sun
Bitcoin Pizza Day engineer poses with his children
Bitcoin Pizza Day is no joke
However, it is actually unfair to look at Hanjez's decision from the current perspective. Users' thoughts on Bitcoin 14 years ago were completely different from those of current users. In an interview with foreign media, Hanyez also revealed that Bitcoin at that time was worthless.
The currency circle foreign media "CoinDesk" also believes that Bitcoin is like a new technology company, it may fail miserably. If there had been no Bitcoin Pizza Day, perhaps no one would have stood up to support Satoshi Nakamoto’s belief in making Bitcoin an electronic cash transaction medium for peer-to-peer transactions, but might have remained a niche among the geek community. Unknown tokens circulated among groups.
On the other hand, Stevant, who received 10,000 Bitcoins, did not retain this asset and soon spent it on travel. It was not until an interview in recent years that he revealed: "If I treat it as an investment, I might Will hold it longer".
He is surprised that the value of Bitcoin is now comparable to that of real estate, but he is also proud to have contributed to the process of "Bitcoin's global phenomenon".
The importance of Bitcoin Pizza Day lies in the fact that through the attempts of Hanyez and Stevant, Bitcoin was able to possess some of the basic characteristics that may be called "currency". Even though most countries currently do not recognize Bitcoin as a currency, its value storage characteristics and high value have benefited many early investors.
Source: CoinMarketCap
From 2011 to the present, the value of Bitcoin has skyrocketed.
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