Bitcoin Pizza Day, A Day Of Celebration

“Pizza For Bitcoins?”

That is the title of a post from a user named “laszlo” dated May 18, 2010, on the obscure forum in a dimly-lit corner of the internet, bitcointalk.org. The request was straightforward enough, “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas. Like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day. I like having left over pizza to nibble on later.”

A user named “ender_x” commented on the thread later that day saying he thought 10,000 bitcoin was “quite a bit” for two large pizzas and wished him good luck on his journey to acquire “free pizza.” As it turns out, laszlo didn’t need luck, and neither would those pizzas be considered “free.” Five days later, on May 22, 2010, at 7:17 p.m., he commented on his own post with a picture of his pizzas saying, “I just wanted to report that I traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza.” And with that, laszlo (full name: Laszlo Hanyecz) documented the first physical good purchased with bitcoin. There is even a plaque commemorating the purchase at the Papa John’s in Jacksonville, Florida, that reads, “Papa John’s. Makers of the famous Bitcoin Pizzas. May 22, 2010.”