Bitcoin Pizza Day: How the Bitcoin pizza guy made the most famous crypto buy

So, here’s a quickfire question to get us underway: what would you pay for a large Pepperoni with extra olives? US$10? US$30? How about almost US$1 billion? Unbelievable? Well, it happened. And no, we’re not talking about diamond dust and extinct truffles from the icy South Siberian tundras—just plain old Papa John’s Pepperoni pizza.

That’s exactly what one guy paid (in today’s currency) back in May 2010. He used a newly formed, hardly recognised digital coin known today as Bitcoin (BTC), arguably, paving the way for the future of crypto transactions. Learn more about this historic moment in the crypto world.

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The guy who bought the most expensive pizzas in the world

The 'Bitcoin Pizza Guy' is Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer famous for making the first documented purchase of goods using Bitcoin. Hanyecz was one of the few individuals in the world who saw potential in blockchain technology at a time when few people even knew what Bitcoin was. He was one of the early miners of Bitcoin.

Hanyecz developed one of the first GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) mining software, which significantly increased the efficiency of Bitcoin mining, making it possible for miners to earn more bitcoins. However, his best-known contribution to the crypto community was a transaction that would go down in history as the first real-world purchase using Bitcoin.

The historic moment

This historic event took place on May 22, 2010. Let’s backtrack all the way to the day this happened. Laszlo Hanyecz, a 20-something computer programmer from Florida, set the pace in the digital currency race and puts out a call to buy a real-world item with what was then a pretty unknown digital currency. He was met with, on a good day, a degree of speculation and a whole lot of scepticism — but this only encouraged him.  

The purchase? Two large Papa John's Pepperoni pizzas. The cost? A whopping 10,000 BTC, which back then was a drop in the ocean compared to far-flung Fiat financing. His BTC pizza purchase, at the time, valued at 0.008 cents, would go on to rack up two global major milestones. That of the first-ever real-world transaction entirely financed by a digital currency, and the most expensive pizzas ever purchased. 

He posted his offer on the BitcoinTalk Forum on May 17, 2010, and 6 days later, someone accepted the offer. The rest is history.

Celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day

The anniversary of Hanyecz’s pizza purchase is celebrated every year as Bitcoin Pizza Day. This day serves as a reminder of Bitcoin's humble beginnings and its journey to becoming a mainstream financial asset. It celebrates the experimental and innovative nature of Bitcoin and blockchain in general, encouraging others to explore and contribute to the evolving world of cryptocurrencies.

Fun fact: The original thread is still on the BitcoinTalk Forum for the world to see. Go check it out today!

The guy who sold the most expensive pizzas in the world

Jeremy Sturdivant, aka Jercos, is the guy who accepted Hanyecz’s offer. He ordered two large pizzas from Papa John’s and had them delivered to Hanyecz’s location, receiving 10,000 BTC in return. At the time, the value of the bitcoins he received was a great deal lower than today. Like many early Bitcoin enthusiasts, Sturdivant sold those bitcoins long before their value reached peak heights.

Laszlo Hanyecz and Jeremy Sturdivant’s story has become a legend in the cryptocurrency community, symbolising the immense potential of crypto and the visionary spirit of its early adopters. Despite the immense value those 10,000 bitcoins would hold today, both individuals view the transaction as a necessary step to the development and worldwide acceptance of Bitcoin as a legitimate currency. 

So, what would the king of pizza purchases be worth now?

When Laszlo made his original offer to put down 10,000 BTC in exchange for two large Papa John’s Pizzas, Bitcoin was scarcely a year old, widely unknown, and trading at 0.008 cents (in exchange for 1 BTC).

To give you an idea of how far Bitcoin has come in terms of its initial value and adoption, consider this: If back in 2010, Laszlo had decided to keep those first Bitcoins safe inside his crypto wallet and let them gather digital dust, his original 10,000 BTC purchase would be worth more than US$985,000,000 in May, 2025. That means each pizza from that order would be valued at around US$492,500,000.

Whatever happened to the two true blue Bitcoin Pioneers?

With the above in mind, it leads you to believe that our friend Laszlo might be ever so slightly put out that he parted with his crypto-cash cow so soon. However, that’s not the case. In fact, Laszlo is still a staunch advocate of the Bitcoin revolution to this very day and is proud to be counted as one of the first forerunners in the race for digital freedom. 

When asked if he had any regrets, Laszlo had this to say:

'You know, I don’t regret it. I think that it’s great that I got to be part of the early history of Bitcoin in that way, and people know about the pizza and it’s an interesting story because everyone can kind of relate to that and be like, 'Oh my God, you spent all of that money!?!'

As for Laszlo’s partner, Jeremy Sturdivant, the man who took a chance and approved the first real-world Bitcoin transaction. Well, Jeremy made off more than alright from the deal. After the transaction was done, he kept the coins for 12 more months, and after a year, he sold them off on one of the first coin exchange sites for US$400 a coin and subsequently made off with a clean and crispy US$4,000,000 for his initial leap of faith.

Onward, to the future of BTC as we know it!

So, what does the Bitcoin Pizza story bode for the future of Bitcoin and its global adoption?

This initial (and seemingly inconsequential) transaction has paved the way for Bitcoin payments the world over. As of today, hundreds of different companies now accept digital currency as a viable payment method, including some of the major industry giants in the world today, like:

• Microsoft
• Burger King
• Virgin Galactic
• Twitch
• Wikipedia
• AT&T.

It took a while, but with patience and perseverance comes meaningful change. The world is starting to catch on to the infinite potential cryptocurrency has to offer, and the perks far outweigh the drawbacks.

More than ten years from the ultimate pizza purchase, the crypto community is all ablaze, as BTC soars to ever greater heights, with groundbreaking applications and myriad different ways to store, spend and transact with digital currency. The future belongs to the advocates of change. 

As you go on your digital journey, don’t forget where it all started. The next time you tap for a cheesy, two for one special, give a tip of the hat to the founding fathers who made it all possible. Grab a pizza, sit back, and watch the world soar into the future of Bitcoin currency as we know it.