Half-a-billion dollars worth of Bitcoin pizza

What would you say if I told you I was ordering half-a-billion dollars worth of pizza? In 2011, Laszlo Hanyecz sent 10,000 Bitcoin in exchange for two Papa John’s pizzas. In current Bitcoin prices, he paid about half a billion dollars for the pizzas shown below.

In reality, Laszlo wasn’t paying half a billion dollars for pizza, he wasn’t even *really* spending the current value of 10,000 coins for pizza. He knew exactly what he was doing — he was creating value. By trading these digital coins for something valuable (pizza) Laszlo became the first person to use Bitcoin in a commercial transaction.

Laszlo Hanyecz is an original Bitcoin-er. He was a part of the community where Satoshi Nakamoto communicated and where Satoshi first shared and discussed the Bitcoin whitepaper.

As an early adopter, and one of the first users and miners, Hanyecz was mining tens of thousands of Bitcoin. But since no one else was using or accepting Bitcoin as payment, he had nowhere to spend it and no way to use it. By posting his plea online (original post below) and eventually finding a buyer, he launched Bitcoin on its journey to where it is today.

The official Bitcoin Pizza Day is May 22, 2010, and is celebrated annually, so keep an eye out for pizza-related celebrations. 🍕