Pizza Day: How 10,000 BTC Changed the History of Crypto

Imagine you ordered a pizza and paid for it with a token whose value then increased by 1000%, then halved. This is exactly what happened on May 22, 2010, when one of the most paradoxical deals in financial history took place. Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz came up with a way to prove that digital money can be used right now, without waiting for a high-tech future. The result? Pizza Day became a celebration for the entire crypto community.

How it all started: ordinary hunger on the forum

On May 18, 2010, a simple message appeared on the Bitcointalk forum: “I will pay 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas.” At that time, this expression meant nothing. Bitcoin had just begun its life, its price was nominal — about $0.004 per coin. Hanyecz was just hungry and wanted to experiment.

Four days of waiting. And then British Jeremy Sturdivant, under the nickname “jercos,” ordered two large Papa John’s pizzas for delivery to Florida. He received 10,000 BTC plus 1 BTC fee. The deal was recorded in block 57,043, and photos of the pizzas became proof that cryptocurrency really works.

Laszlo Hanyecz: the one who chose pizza over wealth

Who is to blame for the story? Laszlo Hanyecz — the person who mined Bitcoin in its early stages. He is not just a user, but a pioneer: developed software for GPU mining, contributed to the development of the technology. But fame also came to him not from the hardware, but from appetite.

“It wasn’t like Bitcoin had some value,” he said years later. Hanyecz didn’t regret it. For him, it was a demonstration of functionality, not an investment mistake. And interestingly: in 2018, he was the first to buy a pizza via Lightning Network — again choosing pizza to showcase new possibilities.

Jeremy Sturdivant: the one who received 10,000 BTC and spent them

The second participant in the deal often remains in the shadows. Jeremy Sturdivant was only nineteen when he placed the order. He paid for the pizza with regular dollars, received bitcoins, and… spent them within a year on a road trip by car.

Why didn’t he hold? Back then, no one talked about “HODL.” The crypto community didn’t see Bitcoin as a treasure — it was an experimental currency, an interesting project. Like Hanyecz, Sturdivant didn’t regret it. His place in history is guaranteed.

The price range: from $41 to $690 million

Here are the numbers that will make your face:

• May 22, 2010: 10,000 BTC = $41 (0.004 dollars per coin)
• December 2010: Bitcoin reached parity with the dollar — pizzas cost $10,000
• 2015: On the fifth anniversary of Pizza Day, those same 10,000 BTC were valued at $2.4 million
• January 2026: At the current price of $90.43K, these 10,000 BTC would be worth about $904 million

This is the most expensive meal in human history. But want to find a mistake? There isn’t one. The real value is not in the amount, but in the fact that three guys on the internet proved: digital money can be used for anything.

Pizza Day as a cultural phenomenon

Every year on May 22, the crypto community celebrates Pizza Day. Exchanges launch promotions, restaurants offer discounts for BTC, people post memes about the “most expensive meal.” It’s not just a joke — it’s a way to remember a more important moment.

Pizza Day became a way to explain to newcomers that Bitcoin was not created as a speculative instrument, but as a means of exchange. When you buy coffee with crypto or pay for a hotel — that’s Laszlo’s legacy.

What this deal gave to the crypto world

Before pizza, Bitcoin was an abstraction. After — it became a reality. The Hanyecz-Sturdivant deal proved several things:

1. Functionality: Cryptocurrency can transfer value right now
2. Price: A real price marker appeared for the first time
3. Vision: The idea of Satoshi — a peer-to-peer payment system without intermediaries — was realized
4. Adoption: It exploded. Hundreds of thousands of deals per day, streets of El Salvador, BTC purchases by governments

Two pizzas sparked a revolution.

Interesting facts worth knowing

• Block 57,043 — an eternal record of a hungry programmer
• Hanyecz’s address conducted over 3,300 transactions after fame
• 0.00649 BTC — the price of a pizza via Lightning Network in 2018 ( showed how the value changed)
• NFTs and crypto art often commemorate this moment
• “Bitcoin Pizza Index” — geeks count how many pizzas can be bought with 1 BTC today

It’s not a mistake — it’s a lesson

Pizza Day teaches us that Bitcoin was created for movement, not for storage. The true value of a currency is in how often it circulates, not in how many zeros follow the price.

This day also reminds us that technology makes sense when it solves real problems. Hanyecz wanted pizza, Sturdivant wanted to experiment — and from this, an ecosystem grew that changed the world.

When you celebrate Pizza Day on May 22, you’re not celebrating an expensive purchase. You’re celebrating the moment when someone dared to believe in a different money system. And it became a reality.