May 22, 2025 – Fifteen years ago today, a Florida programmer made cryptocurrency history by spending 10,000 bitcoins on two Papa John’s pizzas. What seemed like a novelty transaction worth roughly $41 at the time has now become the most expensive pizza purchase in history, valued at over $1.1 billion.
🔥 HISTORY: 15 years ago today, Laszlo Hanyecz made the first Bitcoin transaction to buy two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 $BTC worth $40 at that time.
That would have been worth over $1.1B today. Happy #Bitcoin Pizza Day! 🍕 pic.twitter.com/xsXnJCUv2O
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 22, 2025
The Transaction That Changed Everything
On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz posted a simple request on the Bitcoin Talk forum that would forever change how the world viewed cryptocurrency. “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas,” he wrote, “like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day.”
At the time, Bitcoin was trading at approximately $0.0041 per coin, making the 10,000 BTC worth around $41. A British Bitcoin enthusiast took Hanyecz up on his offer, purchasing two Papa John’s pizzas for about $25 and receiving the digital currency in return.
This seemingly ordinary transaction marked the first real-world commercial use of Bitcoin, establishing a crucial precedent that cryptocurrency could be used to purchase actual goods and services rather than existing purely as a digital experiment.
From $41 to Over $1 Billion
The astronomical appreciation of Bitcoin’s value has transformed Hanyecz’s pizza purchase into a legendary tale of what might have been. With Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high of $111,343 just one day before the 15th anniversary, those 10,000 bitcoins are now worth approximately $1.11 billion.
To put this appreciation into perspective:
- 2011: Nine months after the purchase, when Bitcoin reached dollar parity, the pizzas were worth $10,000
- 2015: On the fifth anniversary, the transaction was valued at $2.4 million
- 2024: Last year’s Bitcoin Pizza Day saw the pizzas valued at over $691 million
- 2025: Today, the value has crossed the $1.1 billion threshold
Also Read: MicroStrategy Announces $2.1 Billion Preferred Stock Offering to Fund Bitcoin Expansion
The Man Behind the Legend
Despite the massive opportunity cost, Laszlo Hanyecz has remained philosophical about his historic purchase. “It wasn’t like bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,” he has said in interviews.
Hanyecz’s transaction was crucial for Bitcoin’s development because it established real-world utility and helped determine an early exchange rate for the cryptocurrency. Without pioneers like Hanyecz willing to use Bitcoin for everyday purchases, the digital currency might never have gained the legitimacy needed to reach today’s valuations.
A Global Celebration
Bitcoin Pizza Day has evolved into an annual celebration embraced by the cryptocurrency community worldwide. This year’s 15th anniversary has prompted special events and gatherings across the globe, including:
- A Bitcoin Block Party in Tel Aviv
- Community gatherings in New York City
- Online commemorations by major cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms
- Social media campaigns celebrating the historic transaction
The day serves as both a celebration of Bitcoin’s journey and a reminder of how far the cryptocurrency ecosystem has come since those early experimental days.
The Broader Impact
Hanyecz’s pizza purchase did more than just establish Bitcoin’s first real-world transaction; it demonstrated the potential for peer-to-peer digital currency to function in everyday commerce. The transaction proved that:
- Bitcoin could be used for actual purchases, not just speculation
- The cryptocurrency had measurable value in real-world terms
- Digital payments could facilitate commerce without traditional financial intermediaries
Market Momentum Continues
As Bitcoin celebrates this historic milestone, the cryptocurrency continues its upward trajectory. The recent surge past $111,000 represents not just a price milestone but validation of the digital asset’s growing acceptance among institutional investors, corporations, and governments worldwide.
The timing of Bitcoin’s latest all-time high, coming just one day before Bitcoin Pizza Day’s 15th anniversary, adds symbolic weight to the celebration and underscores how far the cryptocurrency has traveled from its humble beginnings.
Looking Forward
While Hanyecz’s 10,000 BTC pizza purchase will forever remain one of cryptocurrency’s most famous transactions, it serves as more than just an expensive anecdote. The purchase represents the crucial first step in Bitcoin’s evolution from experimental digital currency to legitimate store of value and medium of exchange.
As the cryptocurrency community celebrates this 15th anniversary, Hanyecz’s legacy extends beyond the monetary value of his transaction. His willingness to use Bitcoin for a real-world purchase helped establish the foundation upon which today’s trillion-dollar cryptocurrency market was built.
Today, as Bitcoin trades at record highs and those two pizzas are worth over $1.1 billion, Laszlo Hanyecz remains a legend in the cryptocurrency community—not for the fortune he might have kept, but for the future he helped create.
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