On May 22, 2010, an event that occurred in Florida changed the course of global financial history. That’s when a normal man named Laszlo Hanyecz decided to do something seemingly banal: buy two pizzas. However, the way he chose to pay for these pizzas paved the way for a revolution in the way we understand and deal with money.
That day, Hanyecz published a post on a specialized forum, Bitcoin Talk, offering 10,000 Bitcoins in exchange for some Papa John’s pizzas. What may seem like a normal transaction today was much more than that. It was the first time in history that Bitcoin was used as a means of payment in a real commercial transaction.
Therefore, a British enthusiast accepted the challenge, and the pizzas were delivered in exchange for 10,000 Bitcoins. At that time, the value of Bitcoin was practically insignificant compared to the numbers we see today. The 10,000 Bitcoins were only worth about $41, while the pizzas cost $25.
It may seem absurd to spend such a large amount of Bitcoin on pizza these days, but for Hanyecz, there are no regrets. According to an interview given to the British newspaper The Sun in 2022, he sees his choice as a valuable contribution to the history of Bitcoin.
In fact, he believes that if he hadn’t made this pioneering transaction, someone else would have. His fearless attitude helped pave the way for Bitcoin’s massive adoption and appreciation over the years.
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
What could have been just another normal purchase became a historic event. Hanyecz’s transaction marked the beginning of a journey that would completely transform the way we see and understand money. From then on, May 22nd was affectionately nicknamed “Bitcoin Pizza Day”, a date that celebrates not just a transaction, but the birth of a new financial era.
Since that first transaction, Bitcoin has evolved from a mere technical curiosity to a global phenomenon. Their value skyrocketed, going from a few cents to thousands of dollars per unit. Events such as “halvings”, which halve the rewards for mining new Bitcoins, have helped to further boost its value.
The most recent of these halvings occurred on April 19, 2024, reducing the mining reward to 3,125 Bitcoins. With Bitcoin trading at around $65,000, those 10,000 Bitcoins used to buy pizzas in 2010 are now worth a whopping $650 million.
Celebration of this historic day
In 2024, Bitcoin Pizza Day will not go unnoticed. Companies and enthusiasts around the world unite to celebrate the event that triggered a financial revolution. Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is organizing global events, including pizza deliveries in sixteen countries, as part of the celebrations. The exchange’s objective is to distribute around 5 thousand pizzas.
In Brazil, Mercado Bitcoin, the largest digital asset platform in Latin America, is teaming up with Rappi to deliver pizzas to selected customers as a form of thanks and to highlight Bitcoin’s journey over the years. Other exchanges, such as CoinEx and Bitfinex, are also running campaigns to mark the occasion.
Source: https://www.criptofacil.com/bitcoin-pizza-day-conheca-a-historia-por-tras-da-comemoracao/
