Not Just Pizza: Discovering The Real-World Power of Crypto, One Transaction at a Time
Main Takeaways
Bitcoin Pizza Day reminds us that the power of crypto isnât confined to the digital world. Digital assets can buy dinners, restore dignity, and make longstanding dreams come true.
Binance employees and Angels around the world share their stories of their first or otherwise memorable crypto transactions â each one a doorway into the physical world.
Crypto is for everyone. The people telling these stories were once first-timers. If they could take the first step, so can you.
May 22 marks one of cryptoâs most iconic milestones: the day when Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 bitcoin (BTC) for two pizzas. It was the first time cryptocurrency was used to buy something in the real â well, non-digital â world. Since then, that world has changed a lot, and so has the world of crypto.
Today, digital assets enable global payments, expand access to basic financial services where it is needed the most, and help people save, invest, and store value. Crypto has become a bridge between the digital and the tangible, between ambition and achievement. And perhaps most importantly, itâs still early. Many of the people shaping the crypto space today began just like anyone else: with a single purchase that turned belief into reality.
Ahead of this BTC Pizza Day, we asked Binance employees and Angels to tell us about their first-ever or most memorable crypto transactions, recalling when they used digital assets to buy something real. From meals and mugs to life-changing milestones, their stories reflect the expanding reach of crypto into everyday life.
Crypto for the Everyday: Meals, Mugs, and so Much More
Sometimes, a crypto transaction is as simple as getting a bite to eat.
Codi, a Binance team member in Dubai, was traveling through Turkey in 2023 when he paid for a savory kebab with USDT. âIt was incredibly convenient,â he says. âAnd the exchange rate beat my bank back home. Crypto just made the whole trip easier.â
Sergio in Mexico had a similar moment this past February, when he paid for dinner in the coastal town of Tulum using BNB. âIt was my first time using crypto for a real purchase, so I wasnât sure what to expect. But it was smooth and fast.â
And in Riga, Latvia, Kirill â one of our Binance Angels â wanted to prove to skeptics that crypto could buy real things. All the way back in 2015, he found three places that accepted BTC: a local airline, a pub, and a quirky gift shop. He chose the gift shop to demonstrate the purchasing power of bitcoin. âI spent almost one full BTC on small presents for my family. The mug alone cost 0.25 BTC.â It felt good to prove the point.
Peer-to-Peer Payments, Simplified
For others, the value of crypto lies in how effortlessly it moves across borders, no banks required.
Jessica, based in Dubai, needed to pay her electrician in Wales. He knew about crypto from following her work in crypto media â however, it was his first time accepting it. They settled the transaction in ETH, and it was way easier than doing a bank transfer. âLooking back, Iâm definitely glad I didnât pay in BTC,â she adds with a smile.
Andy, a Vietnam-based Binancian traveling in Malaysia, found himself in a pinch trying to secure a rental without a local bank account. âI was ready to use Binance to pay the deposit,â he recalls. âIn the end, the host waived it if I promised to keep the place clean. So the payment never happened â but it showed me how useful crypto could be in real-world scenarios.â
Quite often, a single payment opens doors to a wider range of use cases, even if as an unintended consequence. For Jimmy Su, Binanceâs Chief Security Officer, the first encounter with crypto came in late 2012, when the price of bitcoin was around $13. âI wasnât thinking about investing, I just needed it to buy a textbook on compilers from an online seller who insisted on bitcoin payment. I bought five whole BTC on an exchange, used part of the sum to pay for the book, and forgot about the rest. I didnât dive deeper into crypto until years later when I joined Binance.â
That old exchange account? It sat untouched for years, making Jimmy an accidental HODLer.
For the People You Love
Sometimes, the first crypto purchase carries emotional weight. For Binancian Mina, it was all about her mom.
âI used my first crypto salary, paid in BNB at a time when it traded around $200, to buy my mother her favorite perfume,â she says. âIt felt so satisfying, like I was part of something big. I made the payment through Binance and it was seamless. My only regret is not starting sooner.â
And then thereâs Gerrit, a Binance Angel who held onto his crypto long-term and eventually decided to cash out a small portion for something deeply personal. âIâd been in crypto since 2019, rarely sold anything. But one day I bought something Iâd dreamed of since childhood, a luxury timepiece. Itâs less volatile than crypto, sure â but every time I look at it, I think of the journey, and the friends I made in the crypto community along the way.â
A growing number of crypto users have used their assets to buy something big, sometimes life-changing.
Binance Angel AFKBNB in Pakistan was still a student in 2019 when he set his sights on buying a car. Between part-time jobs, GPU mining, and eventually trading, he began accumulating BNB, often at prices as low as $8 to $34. When BNB shot past $500 in 2021, he sold and bought a Honda Civic. âIt was my first vehicle. I still have it. It reminds me whatâs possible when you believe and hold.â
Damo, a former Angel from Australia, had promised to buy the house he was renting from his parents. When a bull run began to cool, he saw his moment. âI had about $140K in BTC, BNB, and ETH. I traded into fiat, made the downpayment, and used the rest for stamp duty. The mortgage ended up cheaper than rent.â Crypto did that.
Crypto as a Comeback Story
Some transactions arenât just about what was bought, but about what was proven.
In 2018, Aman, a Sri Lanka-based Binance Angel, was on the receiving end of the worst conversation of his life. His girlfriendâs father scolded him for being unemployed and not having money. âHe called me ânothing.â I was just 19, saving for university,â he recalls. Determined to prove him wrong, the future Angel dove into crypto. He started by exploring Ethereum, joined Binance in 2019, and used the platform to trade, save, and earn through products like Launchpad and Earn.
By the end of 2020, his holdings had grown enough to buy a piece of land. âI sent a photo of the deed to the man who said I was nothing, and told him: Iâm not nothing.â In 2021, he bought a second plot and began building a house. âCrypto helped me climb out of the hardest moment of my life.â
Final Slice
Whether it was a plate of delicious kebab, a family keepsake, or a home, these stories all began with a single transaction. They reflect the incredible range of what crypto can do: from simple payments to massive life milestones.
Bitcoin Pizza Day isnât just about celebrating a quirky moment in history. Itâs about remembering that crypto is meant to be used, lived, and shared. The pros you see at Binance today all had a first time. And if they could do it, so can you.
After all, itâs never just about the pizza.