Now, let’s imagine for a moment that we own 10,000 bitcoins at this value: 290 million euros. Well, that is the amount that, over time, the programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid in 2010 for two pizzas. Family, yes.
Hanyecz was the first person to make a transaction with bitcoins, at a time when they were worth much less than they are now, of course. Specifically, he made it on May 22, 2010, an event that marks 22 years this week. In the crypto community, in fact, it is known as ‘Pizza Day’.
10,000 bitcoins for two family pizzas
His story, commented on in early cryptocurrency forums, was the subject of a small documentary broadcast by the North American program 60 minutes.
“Honestly, I thought it would be great to be able to say, ‘Hey, I just traded this, you know, open source internet money for some real-world good.’ I can’t say I regret it. It was what I could do at the time. and nobody knew what would become of bitcoin in the future”, he commented in that piece.
The intrahistory was the following. Hanyecz posted on a Bitcoin forum a request to pay 10,000 Bitcoin for two pizzas. After about four days, Jeremy Sturdivant (aka Jercos) contacts him on May 22, 2010. He assures Hanyecz that he will send him two pizzas. The deal goes through and Hanyecz proudly announces on the same forum:
I just want to announce that I have successfully exchanged 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza. Thank you Jerkos.
Generally considered the first Bitcoin transaction in history, Hanyecz paid Sturdivant US$41 for the exchange in its Bitcoin equivalent at the time.
Hanyecz was one of the pioneers who was in contact through a forum with Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of bitcoin. He says that “he was weird, paranoid and bossy”,
Today, Hanyecz, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, is an IT clerk at Goruck, a clothing company that specializes in making backpacks. Since his employee is an internet celebrity, Goruck also accepts Bitcoin. Hanyecz himself says that he does not regret the transaction; after all, someone should have started those first purchases.
What happened to those 10,000 Bitcoins?
The question that many will have asked is: What happened to the 10,000 Bitcoin that Laszlo Hanyecz paid for the pizzas then? In an interview, Sturdivant answered that question. According to him, the 10,000 Bitcoin would have quickly found its way back into the business cycle.
Sturdivant reportedly spent them on video games from the Humble Bundle distribution platform. According to his own statements, he has also not participated in any initiative focused on Bitcoin afterwards. Currently, he works as a product engineer at Inovonics, a manufacturer of professional broadcast equipment.
Since the legendary Bitcoin pizza transaction, the cryptocurrency has undergone a huge transformation, also in the eyes of regulators and the general public. A transformation that will surely take its course. Although those two pizzas, the first bought by Bitcoin, were worth much more than their weight in gold.
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