Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day! ──The day I bought two pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins | coindesk JAPAN

Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!

On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz paid Jeremy Sturdivant 10,000 Bitcoins (BTC) for two Papa John’s pizzas delivered to his home. John’s Pizza).

The transaction is believed to be the first commercial transaction using Bitcoin, and May 22 is being dubbed “Bitcoin Pizza Day.”

It also leads to some of the dumbest, most dishonest perceptions of Bitcoin. In other words, “Stupid man. If he kept it that way, it would be over $270 million! I just bought two pizzas.”

Is that really so?

10,000 bitcoins is a lot of money these days, but back in 2010, it wasn’t. In fact, 10,000 bitcoins in 2010 were enough to buy two pizzas.

Bitcoin is worthless if it is not used. That’s why “Bitcoin Pizza Day” is so meaningful.

For example, imagine a technology company with four co-founders hires its first employee. The employee will be paid a salary of $50,000 and will receive a 1% stake in the first year of service.

Let’s say the company is a hot social media company that goes public eight years later at a valuation of $100 billion. Employee #1 got rich, but did the social media company pay its first employee $1 billion for a year’s work?

Of course not. He handed over $50,000 in cash and 1% of the company, which was worthless at the time. Similarly, instead of paying $270 million for two pizzas, Hanietz paid 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas in 2010.

Like many obscure companies, Bitcoin may have flopped. Without “Bitcoin Pizza Day,” people might not have been willing to use Bitcoin as a medium of exchange for what Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto called peer-to-peer digital cash. In other words, bitcoin may still be traded with just that concept as internet money for some enthusiasts, with no value.

That’s why I want to thank Laszlo Hanietz and Jeremy Sturdevant for creating Bitcoin Pizza Day. Two people started the Bitcoin economy.

Their transaction established part of the foundation for Bitcoin to have true value as money, and all Bitcoiners should be grateful.

｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Takayuki Masuda
| Image: Two pizzas actually received by Laszlo Hanyecz (Laszlo Hanyecz)
｜Original: Celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day: the Time a Bitcoin User Bought 2 Pizzas for 10,000 BTC