May 22 is now forever known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, which is the 2010 holiday when the first real-world commodity was purchased with the first decentralized digital money.
Yet like every holiday, be it Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day, Bitcoin Pizza Day may say more about those celebrating it today than any actual historical facts. In fact, there are people who view the holiday as gone missing or even against values of the bitcoin community.
What is true is that as of May 2010, bitcoin had a small, but growing economy, one where bitcoin was still mostly traded peer-to-peer and on a few smaller exchanges.
Eager to further push the limits of bitcoin commerce, an early developer and miner, László Heez, called out that he was ready and willing to pay 10,000 BTC for two pizzas if someone was willing to take him into business. Is.
Bitcoin user Jeremy “Jercos” Sturdivant will agree to the terms, and shortly thereafter two Papa John’s pies will arrive at the Honeykees’ house. History was made – but some supporting facts have been lost to time.
In honor of the 11th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, we have compiled a list of lesser known facts that are perhaps the most famous of the Bitcoin holiday.
With the price of bitcoin hitting a high of $63,000 this year, both pizzas were worth $630 million.
1) 10,000 BTC was worth only $41 at the time of purchase
Although data on the early bitcoin economy is hard to come by, according to bitcoin user ander_x, Hanyez could have his bitcoins traded on a US dollar exchange… around $41 to be exact. Should the figures be accurate, that puts the price per bitcoin at around $0.004 – or four-thousandths – at the time of the sale.
While the figure isn’t exactly zero, the price was low enough for ender_X to think Hanyecz might be better off the deal, ending her post with a quip – “Good luck getting your free pizza.”
2) Honeyeyes had to wait four days to get her pie
Sure, this isn’t as impressive as Satoshi waiting nearly 11 months to set a price for bitcoin, but by traditional food delivery standards, Hanyez waited some time for his order.
In fact, Hanyecz first posted on the Bitcoin.org forums on Tuesday, May 18, while writing:
“I will pay 10,000 bitcoins for some pizza.. maybe 2 big ones, so I have some left for the next day. I love to leave the pizza to nibble on later… if you are interested please Tell me and we can make a deal.”
Still, he didn’t get pizza till Saturday. As of Friday, few people were even informed about Hanyez’s health, with user BitcoinFX asking if he was “feeling hungry.”
“I think it would be interesting if I could say that I paid for the pizza in bitcoin,” Heinz replied.
According to records backed by BitcoinTalk, Xercos will help him complete the delivery the next day, with the transaction taking place at 2:16 PM EST.
3) Hanyecz bought more than two pizzas for Bitcoin
However, Hanyecz didn’t stop with just two pizzas. Inspired by the backlash, Hanaeus sought to push the limit in June, adding to his post that the deal was “an open offer”.
“As long as I have money (I usually have a lot) I will trade 10,000 BTC for 2 of these pizzas,” he wrote on June 12. “If anyone is interested please let me know.”
Rumor has it that there were other pizza-order exchanges as well, and with some evidence to indicate that this may be the case, Honey’s closed its open offering in August.
“Okay, I didn’t expect it to be so popular, but I really can’t afford to continue because I can no longer make thousands of coins a day,” he wrote. “Thanks to everyone who already bought me pizza, but I’m holding off on doing a few more of these for now.”
That doesn’t mean he left his pizza-buying past behind entirely. In 2018, Laszlo became the first person to buy pizza on the Lightning Network, although he paid only 0.00649 BTC at the time.
4) Xercos finally sold his bitcoin
It didn’t take long for Jeremy “Jercos” Sturdivant to hit the headlines again as the Bitcoin Pizza Day holiday wore on. He would give his only interview to a website called “Bitcoin Who’s Who” in 2015 after five years of trading.
To the potential dismay of current HODLers, Sturdivent stated that at the time “a currency is meant to be spent,” noting that the 10,000 BTC they received “quickly made it back into the economy” until they totaled $400. were worth.
“Naturally there will always be people who hoard coins, try to get rich, and many people have become rich enough, but they won’t get that without economic growth permitting,” he said. , he realized that bitcoin was meant to be similar to PayPal or Stripe.
Sturdivant added a few other notable details about the transaction, which he says was finalized on IRC, while noting that he was just 19 at the time of the trade.
5) Bitcoin Pizza Day was not widely celebrated before
While Bitcoin Pizza Day is widely known today, records regarding any celebration prior to 2014 are scarce. This is not at all surprising, as awareness of bitcoin was low prior to 2013.
It appears that Hanaeus’s story is partly attributed to A. was popularized by new York Times article and later extended by a blog in 2014 and Tweet from @Bitcoin Twitter handle.
Due to the price of bitcoin, then testing $1,000, the story went national in the US, with major media outlets such as ABC News joining. techcrunch, slate And wall street journal To popularize the transaction.
Nevertheless, as demonstrated in the WSJ post, a certain slant was taken, with the holiday being popularized as a way of scolding “bitcoin hoarders”, who use technology as a store of value as opposed to a payment method. a tension between users that continues to this day,
6) Bitcoin Pizza Day Wasn’t The First “Bitcoin Holiday”
That’s right, bitcoiners have been making the holiday for almost as long as the technology has been around, with the first commemorative date set in 2011.
At the time, bitcoin users were eager to mark the disappearance of bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who recently stepped down from his role as project lead, declaring April 28, 2011 “Satoshi Vanishing Day”. Had gone.
User kiba wrote at the time, “I propose that we create a bitcoin holiday in honor of our great anonymous founder and follow the fact that the bitcoin community will recover after the inventor of bitcoin.”
Although Bitcoin Pizza Day took place some time ago, it took some time for it to be a holiday, most likely because the price hadn’t really risen yet. It’s also worth noting that Bitcoin Pizza Day in some ways coincides with the “Bitcoin for Pay” narrative by industry businesses from 2014 to 2016.
7) You can still see pictures of real bitcoin pizza
Wondering what multimillion-dollar pizza actually looked like? wonder no more.
Thanks to Hanyecz’s penchant for photography, we have a well-recorded record of what these expensive pies looked like when they were eaten in 2010.
Hanyecz posted a total of five photos of their meals, which show less variety than traditional toppings, including olives, jalapeos, whole tomatoes and more.
