- In 2010, a programmer traded 10,000 bitcoin for two Papa John's pizzas.
- Today, those bitcoin would be worth more than $80 million.
- In honor of that purchase, the crypto world celebrates Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22.
- Watch bitcoin trade in real time here.
Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!
For bitcoin newbies, crypto-enthusiasts around the world celebrate May 22, the anniversary of one of the earliest bitcoin purchases: two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin.
Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer, purchased the two pizzas from a fellow bitcoiner in Jacksonville Florida, according to the New York Times. In 2013, Hanyecz didn't sound too broken up about the deal in an interview with the Times.
"It wasn't like bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,"Hanyecz said.
Still, those coins would be worth $82 million at bitcoin's last price of $8,200 a coin, according to Markets Insider data. There's a Twitter account that provides a daily update on how much the pizzas would have cost based on the current price of bitcoin.
Bitcoin gained worldwide attention at the end of 2017 as it soared close to $20,000 and infiltrated trading and investment firms across Wall Street. But the coin's origins trace back to 2008 and an anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who's vision was to create a rival financial system based on a technology called blockchain.
Still, many merchants are afraid to accept bitcoin because of its spine-tingling volatility. In 2017, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) described the lack of places to buy goods with bitcoin as striking.
"The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and bitcoin’s rapid appreciation is striking," analysts wrote.
That hasn't kept Wall Street away. A number of top trading firms are active in crypto markets, including DRW and Virtu Financial. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is preparing to launch a bitcoin trading operation. And Morgan Stanley was looking to beef up its equity-research unit with crypto experts.