Ten years! It’s been 10 years since two Papa John’s pizzas were purchased for 10,000 BTC, being the first widely known commercial transaction involving Bitcoin. What’s the value of 10,000 Bitcoin today? About $91 Million, so roughly a 200,000,000% gain.
If you are buying two pizzas today at Papa John’s for Bitcoin Pizza Day, you would spend about .0035 Bitcoin.
The Pizza Buyer
The pizza purchase was made by programmer and early Bitcoin contributor, Laszlo Hanyecz, who helped with Bitcoin source code as well as a mining by creating a program which allowed early miners to use a computer’s graphics card (GPU), which is more powerful than a computer’s processor (CPU). This was before the days of GPU mining farms and what would eventually become large ASIC mining operations influencing hash power.
One might say Lazlo had a desire for pizza, but it's more likely he wanted to test and see if Bitcoin could have a "real world" transaction. He made the question on Bitcointalk.com and says
"I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas.. like maybe 2 large ones..."
Knowing a pizza restaurant likely wouldn't respond, he made the ask available to anyone who would pickup the pizzas and bring them to him.
Someone replied at the time and felt Lazlo was paying too much for the pizza saying
"10,000... Thats quite a bit.. you could sell those...for $41USD right now.."
As Lazlo was able to earn his Bitcoin from mining, he likely at the time didn't feel like spending it, rather he was getting his pizza complimentary for his efforts.
Bitcoin Folklore
Bitcoin Pizza Day has become folklore for the Bitcoin community. Today thousands of bitcoin and crypto community members will be buying pizza, having Zoom calls and happy hours, and reminiscing on these events thinking how crazy it was for this man to spend his Bitcoin in that capacity. Though its likely that 10,000 Bitcoin was but a fraction of Lazlo's holdings.
Well, it's 2020 and as they say, "hindsight is 20/20." The grand majority of those making such comments weren't even aware of Bitcoin at this time.
Medium of Exchange
You'll hear bitcoin experts discuss Bitcoin as a Store of Value vs a Medium of Exchange. Store of Value seems to be best if you think of Bitcoin as being scarce, and more people wanting its supply than what is actually available. But for this article, let's think of Bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange.
There are several companies who have come about and have leveraged traditional banking
infrastructure to support Bitcoin payments. What is important to note in these regards is the Bitcoin interaction stops at the merchant processor, similar to how a foreign credit card transaction is processed. The merchant receives payment in fiat from the merchant processor conducting the conversion. We have yet to seen adoption from merchants in receiving and storing Bitcoin as payments.
Tips on spending Bitcoin if you must
If you must spend your Bitcoin as part of a commerce transaction and you are someone who believes in Bitcoin's lasting growth potential here are some suggestions.
When you spend Bitcoin for a commerce or business transaction, purchase that amount back in Bitcoin
Purchase an allotment of Bitcoin in a separate wallet that is strictly for spending
Spend Bitcoin on large transactions (House, Car, Business)
Pizza Parties
As you enjoy your pizza today and have pizza parties in the future, I hope you remember Bitcoin Pizza Day and it inspires you in regards to how you think about #bitcoin.
And one more thing... when you order your pizza, ask them to place the pepperoni as the "B" in bitcoin.
TF Labs is a Branding, Media, Product, and Technology Consulting Studio, working with companies, brands, and individuals, to lead and advance their innovation opportunities across channels and platforms.
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