What Happened on May 22, 2010
On May 22, 2010, a Florida programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the BitcoinTalk forum: "I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas." He wasn't asking for pizza delivery - he wanted someone to order pizza on his behalf using regular currency, and he'd pay them in Bitcoin.
After four days with no takers, a 19-year-old named Jeremy Sturdivant (username: jercos) took up the offer. He ordered two large Papa John's pizzas for about $25 and had them delivered to Laszlo's home in Jacksonville, Florida. Laszlo then transferred 10,000 BTC to Jeremy's Bitcoin wallet.
Laszlo shared photos of the pizzas on the forum with the now-legendary post: "I just want to report that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza."
Why This Matters
This wasn't just a pizza purchase - it was the first documented real-world commercial transaction using Bitcoin. Before this, Bitcoin existed only as a theoretical currency traded between enthusiasts on forums. Laszlo's pizza proved the system worked end-to-end.
Laszlo was a developer who contributed code to early Bitcoin. He mined Bitcoin using his GPU - a technique he pioneered - and had accumulated thousands of BTC. To him, 10,000 BTC wasn't precious: it was digital tokens he'd generated with his graphics card, and he wanted to prove they had real value by trading them for something tangible.
The Numbers Don't Lie
At today's Bitcoin prices (as of 2024), those 10,000 BTC would be worth over $600 million. The two pizzas that Laszlo bought for $25 effectively cost him hundreds of millions of dollars in hindsight.
But framing it this way misses the point. In 2010, nobody - including Satoshi Nakamoto - knew Bitcoin would reach these values. Bitcoin was an interesting cryptographic experiment. 10,000 BTC might have seemed like a lot, but it represented something that existed purely as software.
What Laszlo Says Today
Laszlo Hanyecz has spoken about Bitcoin Pizza Day many times over the years, and his perspective is consistently one of pride rather than regret. "It wasn't like Bitcoin was scarce back then," he told the Guardian in 2018. "I wanted to do the pizza thing because to me it was free pizza." He doesn't consider himself the loser in the transaction - he helped create a historic moment.
Jeremy Sturdivant (jercos), who received the 10,000 BTC, has been harder to track down. He reportedly spent the Bitcoin within a few months of receiving it. Had he held all 10,000 BTC to today, they'd be worth over $600 million.
Bitcoin Pizza Day Today
May 22 is now celebrated globally as Bitcoin Pizza Day. Crypto exchanges run promotions, pizza restaurants advertise Bitcoin payment options, and the community reflects on how far the technology has come in 15+ years.
The day has become a symbol of something important: early users had to believe in Bitcoin before it had real value. Laszlo's willingness to spend 10,000 BTC for pizza helped establish that Bitcoin was real money - which ultimately made it worth real money.
Want to see what $1,000 invested in Bitcoin on Pizza Day would be worth today? Use our Pizza Day calculator.