Bitcoin Pizza Day 2023: How BTC was Used to Buy a Real-World Commodity for First Time

Bitcoin led the rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies over a decade ago, but the digital currencies did not have any immediate use cases. On this day 13 years ago — Bitcoin was used for the first time, to buy a real-world commodity — pizza. Back in 2010, thousands of Bitcoin tokens were put together, amounting to $40 (roughly Rs. 3,310) by a programmer who wanted to purchase two pizzas. Laszlo Hanyecz, a Florida, US-based programmer who was an early Bitcoin adopter, decided to try the digital currency to purchase pizzas. At the time, the currency was in its infancy and each Bitcoin was valued at around $0.40 (roughly Rs. 33).

For Hanyecz to be able to purchase two pizzas through Bitcoin at the time, he spent a total of 10,000 Bitcoin tokens at a Papa John's outlet. The value of Bitcoin presently stands at $26,653 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh), as per the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360. That means Hanyecz's transcation would be worth a whopping $268.7 million (roughly Rs. 2,225 crore) today.

As Papa John's did not accept Bitcoin as payment option, Laszlo posted an offer on Bitcointalk.org and 19-year-old Jeremy Sturdivant grabbed the offer and delivered the pizzas in exchange for an estimated 10,000 Bitcoin.

Industry players have also chalked out unique plans to engage with Bitcoin enthusiasts and celebrate the anniversary first real-world Bitcoin purchase. Crypto firm Binance, is organising pizza competitions in several parts of the world.

“Meet us in Italy to participate in our pizza competition, or search for clues to find our pizza vans in Vietnam, Bahrain, and Brazil. Fancy a slice at a Binance pizzeria or partner shop? Cambodia, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia have got you covered! You can also join in the fun online with our Bitcoin Pizza Day Collect and win activity to win the BTC equivalent of a year's supply of pizza,” the firm said.

India's CoinSwitch crypto exchange, on the other hand, has released a new recipe to honour the first known purchase ever made via Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin pizza day has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings. What started as a seemingly ordinary transaction has now become a day of celebration and reflection for the entire crypto community. The first-ever recorded Bitcoin transaction may have seemed like a small step at the time, but it was a giant leap for crypto. On May 22, 2010, two seemingly unrelated worlds collided in a delicious and exciting celebration that has taken the world of crypto by storm. Who would have thought that pizza and Bitcoin could create such a buzz,” Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber told Gadgets 360.

The Bitcoin community is now commemorating the historic day with several special posts on Twitter.

The whitepaper for Bitcoin was first published on October 31, 2008 by BTC's anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto. The founder's intention behind creating Bitcoin was said to be aimed at opposing the financial monopoly of governments. Over the years, Bitcoin has evolved alongside several other digital currencies and the sector has seen the rise of other blockchain-related technologies like NFTs and digital collectibles.