On May 22, 2010 a hungry Bitcoin miner and programmer by the name of Laszlo Hanyecz made a post on a Bitcoin forum requesting two pizzas in exchange for 10,000 Bitcoin which was worth just $41 at the time. Someone accepted the offer and purchased two pizzas from pizza franchise Papa Johns. At the time of writing, those same 10,000 Bitcoin are now worth $269,084,298. That sounds like an expensive lunch! I wonder if Mr. Beast would give 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 pizzas for a YouTube "shock video".
Many will say that Laszlo probably regrets that 10,000 Bitcoin exchange for two pizzas, but if you've ever seen an interview from Laszlo on this topic, he seems pretty at peace with it all. If it wasn't for his willingness to part ways with that 10,000 Bitcoin we may have never seen Bitcoin's rise to power or the store of value in which it has become and is still becoming. Someone has to be the frontrunner for change and that person isn't usually credited or compensated in proportion to the change that they were the catalyst.
Some celebrate Laszlo Hanyecz and his two pizza Bitcoin purchase while others scratch their head at how such an exchange could ever be made. The one thing that many overlook is that Bitcoin needed value. It already had a purpose, but the value in anything is never seen until an actual value is placed on it. At that time, 10,000 Bitcoin were valued at 2 pizzas. If Bitcoin stayed an exchange for pizza, it would serve as food currency, which is still an accomplishment, but it has become much more than "food money". Bitcoin is "life money". Though the world is slowly, but surely coming to this realization, it is becoming a reality nonetheless. On this "Bitcoin Pizza Day" we salute Laszlo Hanyecz for his historical multi-million dollar pizza purchase and we also must salute Jeremy Sturdivant, the purchaser of those two pizzas in exchange for the 10,000 Bitcoins. Both were fundamental in Bitcoin's rise to power and value.
Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!
By Jamal Saafir
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