Today, we celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day with others worldwide as a testament to the ever-changing, unpredictable nature of the cryptocurrency industry. But it took a food order now worth millions of dollars for the popular cryptocurrency to reach today’s heights. Bitcoin Pizza Day (every May 22nd) is a fun holiday commemorating the first time in recorded history that Bitcoin was used to purchase physical goods.
Imagine living in a world where people were turning down 10,000 BTC. That’s what Florida programmer and BTC miner Laszlo Hanyecz ran into back in May 2010 when writing on the Bitcointalk.org forum about his pizza-buying plan. Hanyecz waited for days after his initial May 18th post that asked other contributors to buy him two large pizzas in exchange for 10,000 BTC. His hunger was finally satisfied on May 22nd when he wrote about the successful transaction.
May 22nd, 2010, officially turned into Bitcoin Pizza Day. And years later, we look back and imagine what it would be like to hold 10,000 BTC, much less trade them for two Papa John’s pizzas. Hanyecz would have collected nearly $700 million if he sold his 10,000 BTC at the coin’s all-time high of $68,990.
Bitcoin Pizza Day Isn't Just A Novelty
Bitcoin Pizza Day is not just a novelty reserved for the digital asset world. Instead, as Hanyecz’s story became known over the years, major media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, and Slate have covered the annual’ holiday.’
In late October 2022, the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre got into the crypto spirit and officially added Bitcoin Pizza Day to its yearly festivities calendar. Local councilman Jesse Sangalli presented a bill to add the holiday to drive visibility to crypto and DeFi among the city’s 1.5 million residents. Reminiscing on the transaction that made history in a February 2021 Bloomberg interview, Hanyecz said he had no regrets about his pizza purchase. However, he did advise relying on cash to buy pizzas.
Bitcoin's Power As A Medium Of Exchange
Indeed it would be hard to blame Hanyecz’s efforts back in Bitcoin’s early days. At the time, very few people had any hopes about the coin’s tangible value or if it would continue to exist. So, do Hanyecz’s experiences imply that we should shy away from using Bitcoin for everyday transactions?
It’s true that more than a decade after the pizza purchase, the coin’s capped supply, and popular demand have made Bitcoin very useful as a store of value – a “digital gold.” But popularity and accessibility will only continue to grow if more people across the globe get comfortable with buying and selling with Bitcoin.
So be sure to go out and buy something (you can’t go wrong with pizza) this May 22nd to celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day and drive the future adoption of one of the globe’s most unique assets.
