The incredible story of the man who paid a billion dollars for two pizzas

The simple purchase of two pizzas could have gone unnoticed, but what happened in the years that followed — the mind-boggling explosion in the value of cryptocurrencies — didn’t allow it. And to commemorate the mythical transaction, “Pizza Day” is now celebrated every year in the crypto community on May 22nd.

More than fourteen years later, the story of the two pizzas paid for with bitcoin by the then young programmer Laszlo Haniecz continues to generate fascination.

In May 2010, when this cryptocurrency was still barely known, Hanyecz offered 10,000 bitcoins for two large pizzaswhich at the time cost 40 dollars.

He paid them at the time Jeremy Sturdivantknown as “Jercos”, which also entered the history of cryptocurrencies as the first person to accept a payment in bitcoins.

The purchase of the two pizzas, agreed between Hanyecz and Jercos on IRC, the grandfather of all chats, thus established the first business transaction with cryptocurrencies, remember the

“I just want to inform you that I successfully exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for pizza. Thank you Jercos!”, Hanyecz then wrote in a publication that then also reserved a place in history.

At the time of publishing, 10,000 bitcoins are priced at $926,475,035 — almost a billion of US currency, or about 950 million euroswhich makes it one of the most expensive purchases ever recorded.

The 10,000 bitcoins with which Hanyecz paid for his pizzas actually came into effect recently, for a few days, more than a billion dollarswhen the price of BTC .

Bitcoin, created in 2009 by , was then an experimental project whose value was no more than a few cents. Hanyecz, like many other enthusiasts, mined bitcoins on his computer, and easily achieved accumulate thousands of bitcoins.

To test its usefulnesson the mythical May 22, 2010, Hanyecz placed an ad on Bitcointalk, a forum specializing in cryptocurrencies, in which he offered 10,000 bitcoins to anyone who gave him 2 pizzas. Sturdivant accepted, went to a nearby pizzeria, where he paid $40 for the two pizzas — which he handed to Hanyecz.

Since then, May 22nd of each year has been celebrated in the crypto community as “or Dia da Pizza Bitcoin“.

And what happened to the legendary Hanyecz in the meantime? In later interviews, he said he regretted nothing. “It was exciting to be part of history of something so big.”

But in your description you can still read, with some humor: “I I’m the person who bought the 10,000 BTC pizza. Now I’m poor. Feel free to donate any amount of BTC.

And it ends with your wallet BTC: 1NosDYmVU4VHv5Yd9CuNsStjptttM1Y6HW.