Photo: AP Photo/Gilian Flux, File
File – A neon sign warning customers that businesses will accept Bitcoin as payment in the windows of Healthy Harvest Indoor Gardening in Hillsboro, Oregon, on February 7, 2018.
It’s not an official holiday yet, but for many cryptocurrency enthusiasts, “Bitcoin Pizza Day” is still special. Thursday will be purchasing real-world merchandise to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the first known use of cryptocurrency.
The 10,000 bitcoin paid by software developer Lazlo Haniets for two Papa John’s pizzas delivered to his Florida home on May 22, 2010 was worth around $41 at the time. Today they are worth $1.1 billion as Bitcoin hits record high prices.
Several cryptocurrency companies have announced promotions and other celebrations to mark Bitcoin Pizza Day. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget has announced that it is handing out pizza to more than 2,000 people at rallys around the world.
Here’s the backstory of Bitcoin Pizza Day:
A humble beginning
The first Bitcoin was created in early 2009 by Nakamoto Atoshi, the still unknown creator of digital currency. It began as a passion project for libertarian-oriented computer nerds who wanted to create digital payment systems that were not dependent on third parties for transactions, like governments and financial institutions.
Hanyecz was an early enthusiast, active on early Bitcoin Internet Message Boards, providing technical advice on how to “minate” Bitcoin more effectively.
At the heart of Bitcoin’s technology is the process in which transactions are verified and recorded in what is called blockchain. Computers connected to the Bitcoin network solve complex mathematical calculations that validate transactions, and the winner wins a newly created Bitcoin in a process known as mining.
In the early days, enthusiasts were able to mine Bitcoin through their home computers, and Hanyecz accumulated thousands of new digital assets. Now, mining Bitcoin has become a very competitive field with billions of dollar companies using specialized computers throughout the data center to acquire new Bitcoin.
“There’s no strange fish toppings.”
In the early days, no one knew very well what to do with the bitcoin they were mining. On May 18, 2010, Hanyecz attempted an experiment and posted a message offering 10,000 bitcoins to pizza.
“I like things like onions, peppers, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni and more.
Three days later, Hanyecz wondered if the price needed to go up.
“So no one wants to buy me pizza? Is the amount of bitcoin I’m offering too low?” he wrote.
But the next day, Honeyets said they had successfully traded Bitcoin for pizza. Another Bitcoin enthusiast in California paid for Papa John’s pizza in exchange for cryptocurrency, according to a book on “Digital Gold,” a book about Bitcoin’s early history.
“A big milestone has reached,” said another early Bitcoin enthusiast on the message board congratulating Hanyecz.
Absurd growth
It didn’t take long for Bitcoin to take off after the first pizza deal. Bitcoin began to grow with more promotion thanks to the popularity of the Silk Road, an online black market site that only accepted Bitcoin.
By February 2014, Bitcoin was trading for around $600, so Honeyets was amazed at what digital currency turned out.
“People can say I’m stupid, but that was a big deal back then,” Honeyets wrote on the Bitcoin message board. “I didn’t think anyone knew this way to take off.”
Five years later, when Bitcoin was trading as high as $11,000, Hanyecz reflected what that first pizza meant for Bitcoin.
“It made it a reality for some people, I mean that it certainly did for me,” Honeyts said on the TV show “60 Minutes.”
Hanyecz has remained mostly out of the public spotlight in recent years, and efforts to contact him from the Associated Press have failed.
The best ever
After years of adaptation and start, Bitcoin appears to be firmly established in the mainstream financial system today. Although it does not exist as a payment method for everyday items such as pizza, Bitcoin has found its popularity as a kind of “digital gold” or a way to store value.
Retirement accounts allow you to purchase Bitcoin ETFs, and more and more companies will buy Bitcoin as the financials of your company, and President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order establishing a government reserve for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was trading for around $111,000 on Thursday morning. This is a new record. Its price offers over $2 trillion, or roughly the same market capitalization as Amazon.
