22 May 2023 - Bitcoin Pizza Day. Why Are We Celebrating?

It was May 22 in 2010 - 13 years ago, when Laszlo Hanyecz makes the first recorded real-world transaction using Bitcoin! source What he did was to post on a forum that he was willing to pay 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas delivered to his house. It was not long before another user named Jeremy Sturdivant agreed to the deal. Jeremy ordered two pizzas from Papa John’s for about $41. The pizzas were sent to Laszlo's house and then Jeremy received 10,000 bitcoins in return. If you are wondering how much 10.000 BTC is now, it is close to 300 million dollars! ($267.975.000,00)

It is interesting to get into more detail about how it did happen.

Actually, on May 18th 2010 Laszlo wrote a post asking if anyone would be willing to order for him or to make a pizza for him.

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. I like having left over pizza to nibble on later. You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I'm aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don't have to order or prepare it myself, kind of like ordering a 'breakfast platter' at a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you're happy!

I like things like onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, etc.. just standard stuff no weird fish topping or anything like that. I also like regular cheese pizzas which may be cheaper to prepare or otherwise acquire.

If you're interested please let me know and we can work out a deal.

Thanks,
Laszlo

I bet he could not even imagine what would follow the next couple of days, I dont know if he really expected someone to order pizza for him and pay real dollars for 10.000 BTC

(take sometime to check out the post here)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137.0

The 10K BTC were worth $41 at the time

May 21st, and still no valid offer ... but then, the next day! He happily confirms the transaction!
Why did he do it? Because he simply thought it would be interesting to make a real life transaction with BTC!

This transaction is considered to be a very important milestone, as it symbolizes the first real world good that was bought with a cryptocurrency.

The day of May 22nd is celebrated by the community every year, as a commemoration of this event and there are many events / celebrations that are organized during the days before and during May 22nd.

Let's check out some other 'Bitcoin's First Events' and important dates!

• November 2008: Bitcoin's Whitepaper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was published by Satoshi Nakamoto.

• January 3, 2009: The 'genesis block' of bitcoin is mined

• January 12, 2009: The first bitcoin transaction was sent by Satoshi Nakamoto to Hal Finney

• May 22nd 2010: The first real-world transaction using bitcoin was the bitcoin pizza purchase for 10.000 BTC by Laszlo Hanyecz

• July 2020: The first major exchange that traded bitcoin for fiat currency was Mt. Gox

• 2010: The first bitcoin faucet was The Bitcoin Faucet and developed by Gavin Andresen in 2010. It originally gave out five bitcoins per person as rewards for completing simple tasks or games.

• February 2011: Bitcoin reaches 1$

• June 2011: The first major hack of a Bitcoin exchange was Mt. Gox, where approximately 2000 bitcoins were stolen and many user accounts were compromised. The price of bitcoin drops to $0.01 from $17.51

• April 2013: First time that Bitcoin the price of $100.

• 2014: The first major retailer that accepted Bitcoin was "Overstock.com"

• December 2017: Bitcoin reaches its then All Time High ever, hitting $19,783.06

• March 2020: Bitcoin crushes, dropping from $10,000 to $4,000 in a few days
  (amidst COVID pandemic)

• April 2021: Bitcoin hits its highest price of $64,863.10

• 2021: El Salvador becomes the first country to recognize bitcoin as legal tender

It's been 15 years since 2008, when the Bitcoin WhitePaper was published, and we have sure gone a long way till then. What lies ahead remains a mystery, especially with all these emerging and converging technologies that are now blending together to shape our present and future.

Let us take this day as an opportunity to educate people who may have no idea why we are eating Pizza every May 22nd and let us show them that what is happening around us does matter.

What is around us is important. We should look beyond our micro world, beyond the easily digested information. We should search for truth and create our world the way we want it. Better and more fair for everyone. Let us not stop hoping. Let us believe.

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Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha