Bitcoin Pizza Day: The Story Behind the 10,000 BTC Pizza
Every year on May 22, the Bitcoin community celebrates an unusual anniversary. It's not the birthday of a founder, the launch of a protocol, or the date of a major upgrade. It's the anniversary of a pizza order — two large pizzas from Papa John's, to be precise. This day has become known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, and it marks one of the most important moments in Bitcoin's history.
The Post That Started It All
On May 18, 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz posted a message on the Bitcointalk forum with a simple request:
"I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas… like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day."
At the time, Bitcoin was barely a year old. There were no exchanges, no price charts, and no real-world merchants accepting it. The network was kept alive by a small community of cryptography enthusiasts and early adopters. Laszlo himself was notable in this community — he was an early Bitcoin developer who had contributed code to the project and was one of the first people to set up GPU mining.
His offer sat for a few days. At the time, 10,000 BTC was worth roughly $41 based on the only pricing reference available (a now-defunct exchange called Bitcoin Market). Most people in the forum were skeptical that anyone would take him up on it.
The Transaction
The transaction is now commemorated every year — you can find it and other milestones on our Bitcoin history timeline.
On May 22, 2010, a user named Jeremy Sturdivant (known as "jercos" on the forum) accepted Laszlo's offer. Jeremy ordered two large Papa John's pizzas and had them delivered to Laszlo's home in Jacksonville, Florida. In return, Laszlo sent 10,000 BTC to Jeremy's Bitcoin address.
Laszlo posted a photo of the pizzas in the forum thread, confirming the transaction. It was, by most accounts, the first documented purchase of a physical good using Bitcoin.
What Those Bitcoins Would Be Worth Today
This is the part that makes people gasp. The value of 10,000 BTC has fluctuated wildly over the years:
- May 2010: ~$41
- 2013 peak: ~$12 million
- 2017 peak: ~$200 million
- 2021 peak: ~$690 million
- 2024: Varies, but often cited in the hundreds of millions
Even looking at BSV's value, those 10,000 coins would represent a significant sum. The pizzas themselves cost about $25.
It's easy to laugh at this in hindsight, but doing so misses the point entirely.
Why Pizza Day Actually Matters
Proof of Utility
Before Laszlo's pizza purchase, Bitcoin existed purely in the digital realm. People mined it, traded small amounts on forums, and discussed its theoretical value. But no one had used it to buy something real. Laszlo's transaction proved that Bitcoin could function as what Satoshi Nakamoto intended: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
This wasn't a speculative investment or a store of value play. It was someone spending bitcoin to buy pizza. That simple act validated the entire concept.
Setting a Price
The pizza transaction helped establish a real-world exchange rate for Bitcoin. If 10,000 BTC bought two pizzas worth $25, then 1 BTC was worth about $0.0025. This gave the nascent community a tangible reference point for what Bitcoin was "worth," which helped facilitate future transactions and price discovery.
Cultural Significance
Pizza Day has become Bitcoin's most beloved holiday. It's celebrated worldwide with pizza parties, meetups, and social media posts. It serves as a reminder of where Bitcoin started — not as a speculative asset, but as a currency meant to be used.
For the BSV community, Pizza Day holds particular resonance. BSV's philosophy centers on Bitcoin as a medium of exchange — digital cash that people actually spend on goods and services. Laszlo's pizza purchase embodies this vision perfectly.
Laszlo's Legacy
Laszlo Hanyecz doesn't regret the purchase. In interviews, he's said that the point was to demonstrate that Bitcoin could be used as a real currency. He continued making Bitcoin purchases after the pizza transaction and is widely regarded as a pioneer who helped prove Bitcoin's utility at a critical early stage.
He's also credited with developing GPU mining for Bitcoin, which was a significant technical advancement that made mining much more efficient than CPU-only approaches.
Celebrating Pizza Day
Every May 22, Bitcoiners around the world order pizza and pay with Bitcoin where they can. It's a lighthearted celebration, but it carries a deeper message: Bitcoin was built to be spent, not just held. Every transaction — from a pizza order to a micropayment to an enterprise data transfer — validates the network and fulfills its original purpose.
So the next time you eat pizza, raise a slice to Laszlo. His 10,000 BTC purchase wasn't a mistake — it was the moment Bitcoin became real.
Explore more Bitcoin milestones on the Bitcoin History timeline, calculate your Bitcoin age, or learn about the Genesis Block.