PIZZA DAY

There are many historic Bitcoin days that are celebrated by its community such as the anniversary of the network’s genesis block being mined. But no event in Bitcoin history has become as famous as that now known as Pizza Day. Even mums and dads with minimal Bitcoin knowledge are aware of that time a guy tried to swap 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas and succeeded.

Destined to be told around campfires and recounted in internet corners till the end of time, the facts behind Pizza Day are quite simple. On May 18th, 2010, Bitcointalk user Laszlo Hanyecz (“Laszlo”) posted: “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.”

Like other attempts at stimulating greater adoption of BTC, such as the poker tournament hosted two months earlier, or the first auction of bitcoins which failed, users were slow to respond, prompting Laszlo to write, three days after his initial post, “So nobody wants to buy me pizza? Is the bitcoin amount I'm offering too low?” For the record, 10,000 BTC was worth $30-$40 at the time.

Eventually, on May 22nd, another early Bitcoiner, 19-year-old Jeremy “jercos” Sturdivant, agreed to the deal. jercos ordered two large Papa John’s pizzas to be delivered to Laszlo’s home in Jacksonville, Florida. “I just want to report that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza,” posted a jubilant Laszlo, sharing photos of the pizzas and thanking jercos for his help.

The name Jeremy Sturdivant is a footnote in Bitcoin history, despite brokering the largest real-world exchange of BTC ever attempted. Laszlo, in comparison, has become a household name that is arguably only behind that of Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney in Bitcoin lore.

Universally Loved

There are a number of reasons why the Bitcoin pizza story has resonated while other attempts at stimulating adoption, such as by integrating it into MMO game “A Tale in the Desert” have largely escaped scrutiny. Aside from the high sum of bitcoin involved, it helps that pizza is a universally loved food with the price of a slice even used to track inflation in various countries.

If Bitcoin is the world’s digital currency of choice, pizza is its food. Anyone who attempted to combine the two had an outsized chance of making history, and in the event that honour fell to Laszlo Hanyecz. Of course, at the time Laszlo wasn’t grandstanding or attempting to position himself at the centre of Bitcoin’s story: as he confessed, “I just think it would be interesting if I could say that I paid for a pizza in bitcoins.”

Like so many other historic events, it would be some time before the significance of Pizza Day hit home. Time for Bitcoin adoption to grow and with it the price of BTC, elevating those two Papa John’s into the world’s most expensive pizzas. While using modern prices to calculate the cost of goods purchased back in the day makes little sense, it hasn’t stopped “pizza calculators” being created that track the rising cost of Laszlo’s meal.

To Laszlo’s credit, he understood exactly what he was doing and showed no buyer’s remorse once his impromptu purchase became the worst meal deal since Esau swapped his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. “If I hadn’t done that, maybe Bitcoin wouldn’t have become so popular,” he reflected years later, adding that he “felt like I won the internet that day” and has “no regrets” about helping bootstrap the Bitcoin economy.

Pizza Day has become enshrined in Bitcoin culture and is now commemorated around the world. Only this time when its celebrants order pizza, they’re not paying with BTC, having deemed it too precious to part with.