Every year on May 22, the crypto community celebrates Bitcoin Pizza Day. It marks one of the most famous moments in Bitcoin history: the day programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas.
At the time, those pizzas cost about $41. As of May 22, 2026, the same 10,000 BTC are worth around $778 million.
That number is what makes the story unforgettable. But Bitcoin Pizza Day is not just about an expensive meal in hindsight. It is about the first widely recognized real-world Bitcoin transaction and the moment Bitcoin moved from an experiment in code to something that could be used as money.
Quick Facts About Bitcoin Pizza Day
Detail
Information
Date
May 22, 2010
Buyer
Laszlo Hanyecz
Amount spent
10,000 BTC
Item bought
Two Papa John’s pizzas
Approx. value then
$41
Approx. value in 2026
$778 million
Why it matters
First widely recognized real-world Bitcoin purchase
How Bitcoin Pizza Day Started
The story began on May 18, 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the Bitcointalk forum with a simple request. He wanted someone to order him two large pizzas in exchange for 10,000 bitcoins.
Bitcoin was still very new at the time. There were no major exchanges, no mainstream attention, and very little real-world use. It was mostly discussed by developers, cryptography enthusiasts, and early adopters who were experimenting with the idea of decentralized digital money.
Laszlo was not just a casual Bitcoin user. He was an early developer who had contributed to the ecosystem in important ways. He helped port Bitcoin to Mac OS and worked on GPU mining, which later became a major part of Bitcoin’s mining history.
But on that day, he was not trying to make a headline. He was trying to buy pizza.
In his forum post, he offered 10,000 BTC for “a couple of pizzas,” preferably two large ones so he would have leftovers. He listed his topping preferences too, including onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, and regular cheese. He also made it clear that he did not want any “weird fish” toppings.
For four days, no one took the offer. Then someone finally did.
The 19-Year-Old Who Accepted the Deal
On May 22, 2010, Jeremy Sturdivant, known online as “jercos,” accepted Laszlo’s offer.
Jeremy was 19 years old at the time. He ordered two large Papa John’s pizzas, paid for them with regular money, and had them delivered to Laszlo’s home in Florida. In return, Laszlo sent him 10,000 BTC.
The transaction was recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, and the pizzas became part of crypto history.
At that moment, Bitcoin had a real-world reference point: two pizzas, $41, and 10,000 BTC. It was not just an idea anymore. It had been used to buy something physical from the real world.
Why the Pizza Purchase Was So Important
Many people retell Bitcoin Pizza Day as a story about regret. After all, 10,000 BTC is worth hundreds of millions of dollars today. It is easy to look back and say Laszlo made a costly mistake.
But that misses the larger point.
In 2010, Bitcoin had no established market value in the way we understand it today. It was not widely accepted, not easy to trade, and not considered a mainstream asset. The bigger challenge was proving that anyone would exchange something real for it.
That is what Laszlo helped prove.
He once explained the idea simply: if nobody was using Bitcoin, it did not matter how many coins someone had. For Bitcoin to become meaningful, people had to spend it, accept it, and treat it like money.
The pizza purchase helped create that proof.
Before May 22, 2010, Bitcoin existed mostly as a technical experiment. After that day, it had been used for a real-world purchase. That may sound small now, but it was a major step in Bitcoin’s journey from an online experiment to a global digital asset.
The Price of the Bitcoin Pizza Over the Years
The most famous part of the story is how much those 10,000 BTC became worth over time.
Year
Approx. BTC Price
Value of 10,000 BTC
May 2010
$0.0041
~$41
2011
~$30
~$300,000
2017 peak
~$20,000
~$200 million
2021 peak
~$69,000
~$690 million
May 2025
~$110,568
~$1.1 billion
October 2025
~$126,000 (ATH)
~$1.26 billion
May 22, 2026
~$77,800
~$778 million
The numbers are almost impossible to process. Two pizzas that cost about $41 in 2010 are now remembered as a purchase worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Still, the real value of the story is not just the price comparison. It is what the transaction represented.
Bitcoin Pizza Day showed that Bitcoin could be used as a medium of exchange. It gave the community a story, a benchmark, and a reason to believe that digital money could work beyond theory.
How Bitcoin Pizza Day Is Celebrated
Today, Bitcoin Pizza Day is one of the crypto industry’s most recognized annual moments.
Every May 22, crypto exchanges, communities, developers, and Bitcoin supporters revisit the original story. People share screenshots of Laszlo’s forum post, post memes about the world’s most expensive pizzas, and organize pizza meetups around the world.
Some people even buy pizza with crypto to recreate the moment.
What makes the day special is that it is both funny and meaningful. On one hand, it is hard not to laugh at the idea of paying 10,000 BTC for dinner. On the other hand, that dinner helped prove something important about Bitcoin’s purpose.
Bitcoin was not created only to be held. It was created to be used.
This is how WazirX is celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day with its community. Have you participated?
Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day, everyone 🍕
To mark the 16th anniversary, we’re running a quick pizza-slice challenge.
1️⃣ Follow @WazirXIndia 2️⃣ Repost this post and tag 2 friends 3️⃣ Count the number of 🍕 slices in the video and reply using #BitcoinPizzaDay
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) May 22, 2026
The Real Lesson of Bitcoin Pizza Day
The simple takeaway is not “never spend your Bitcoin.”
The better lesson is that adoption requires use.
If no one had ever spent Bitcoin, accepted Bitcoin, or tested Bitcoin in the real world, it may never have grown into the asset it is today. Early users like Laszlo helped create the foundation for everything that followed.
The pizza purchase was not a failure. It was a contribution.
Laszlo did not lose $778 million. He helped create the conditions that made such a valuation possible in the first place.
That is why Bitcoin Pizza Day still matters 16 years later. It reminds us that every major technology starts with small, imperfect, experimental moments. In this case, that moment happened to involve two large pizzas.
With over four years of experience in Web3, Harshita blends deep ecosystem knowledge with sharp content strategy. Backed by a background in e-commerce and freelance writing across diverse industries, she brings strong SEO expertise and practical crypto insight to every piece she creates. Outside of Web3, she’s a self-declared foodie and an unapologetic dog person.
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