Laszlo Hanyecz made history by trading 10,000 BTC for two pizzas. Back then, Bitcoin was worth mere cents—around $25 in total. He posted on a forum offering 10,000 BTC for pizza, and a fellow user accepted, ordering two Papa John’s pizzas delivered to Laszlo’s Florida home. He transferred the bitcoins using a basic command-line wallet, unknowingly completing the first real-world Bitcoin transaction.
Today, those 10,000 BTC would be worth around $1 billion, with BTC trading near $100,000. This moment is now commemorated annually on May 22 as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”—a lighthearted nod to crypto’s early days.
But one question lingers: can Laszlo ever truly forgive himself? Many can’t imagine what he must feel. Still, without pioneers like him, crypto wouldn't be where it is today.