Today, the whole crypto community is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day. Exactly ten years ago, Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida who also contributed to Bitcoin's source code in the past, made the first documented purchase of physical goods with Bitcoin.
The two pizzas that became famous. Image: Laszlo Hanyecz.
10 years ago Laszlo Hanyecz had tens of thousands of bitcoin he had mined just burning a hole in his pocket. He also had a hankering for pizza. The rest... was history.https://t.co/vvYcbUpH4Opic.twitter.com/Nd8uFHoIBx
More than anything, Hanyeczâs purchase was a proof of concept, designed to demonstrate that Bitcoinâmore of a âgeek noveltyâ at the time that almost no one knew aboutâcould, and should be, a ârealâ currency and a means of exchange.
Ten years later, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry now amounts to more than $254 billion, and the biggest players in the space are still celebrating that historic purchase of two pizzas.
â CZ Binance đ¶đ¶đ¶ (@cz_binance) May 22, 2020
Itâs hard to say how much exactly 10,000 BTC was worth in May 2010 as different sources name figures between $25 and $41. But today, 10,000 BTC is worth around $91 millionâand was worth twice that much in late 2017, when the price of Bitcoin temporarily reached $20,000.
Bitcoin pizza day: 10 years ago a programmer bought two Papa Johns pizzas for 10,000 $BTC.
âI'd like to think that what I did helped. But I think if it wasn't me, somebody else would have come along. And maybe it wouldn't have been pizza,â Hanyecz explained in May 2018.
âBut I think Bitcoin was kind of destined to get big, and I didn't know everything about Bitcoin back thenâI mean, I had only been playing with it a couple months, and I figured out how to mine, I actually wrote the first GPU minerâand that's how I got all those Bitcoins that I was kind of giving away,â he added. He has also said that he doesn't regret making the purchase.
Two Papa John's pizzas: $100,000,000 Jump starting a new economy: PRICELE$$
This wasnât the only thing Hanyecz spent Bitcoin on. According to 60 Minutes, he spend around 40,000 Bitcoin in total at the timeâworth $364 million today. Which seems like a lot, but you canât put a price on fame.
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