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Bitcoin Pizza Day: The 10,000 BTC Pizza Purchase of May 22, 2010
Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas, creating the first well-known real-world Bitcoin purchase.
The forum post
On May 18, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz posted on BitcoinTalk offering 10,000 BTC for two large pizzas. Four days later, on May 22, a user named jercos accepted and ordered two Papa John's pizzas to Laszlo's home in Jacksonville, Florida, for about $41. The trade is the earliest well-documented exchange of bitcoin for a physical good.
What 10,000 BTC was worth then
Contemporary trades on the BitcoinMarket.com exchange valued bitcoin near $0.004, so the 10,000 coins were about $41. Laszlo was also a prolific miner: he wrote early GPU mining code for macOS and later said he spent roughly 100,000 BTC on pizza during 2010.
The value in later cycles
At the 2013 peak near $1,150 the pizzas were worth about $11.5 million. At the December 2017 high of roughly $19,700 they were worth $197 million, and at prices around $100,000 in 2025 they would exceed $1 billion. Converting with sats makes the scale clearer: each pizza cost 500 billion satoshis.
Why the trade mattered for price discovery
Before May 2010 bitcoin had no reliable market price. A real-world purchase established that strangers would accept bitcoin as payment, and within two months the Mt. Gox exchange launched in July 2010, giving the asset its first deep order book.
Pizza Day today
May 22 is celebrated annually; Lightning Network users mark it by buying pizza with payments of a few thousand sats, showing how the payment layer has changed since an on-chain transfer of five-digit coin amounts.
By the numbers
For Bitcoin Pizza Day, the reference figures are date of May 22, 2010, amount of 10,000 BTC, goods of Two Papa John's pizzas (~$41), implied btc price of ~$0.0041. The comparison table below lines up date, approx. btc price, value of 10,000 btc — May 2010: $0.004 / $41; Nov 2013: $1,150 / $11.5M; Dec 2017: $19,700 / $197M; Nov 2021: $69,000 / $690M; Dec 2024: $100,000 / $1.0B.
Modeling Bitcoin Pizza Day with the Crypto Profit Loss Calculator
The Crypto Profit Loss Calculator takes three inputs — Buy price ($), Sell price ($), Amount invested ($). P/L = invested × (sell ÷ buy − 1). With its default inputs (Buy price ($) = 100; Sell price ($) = 150; Amount invested ($) = 1000) it returns 500 $; swap in the figures from Bitcoin Pizza Day above to reproduce the scenario yourself.
Modeling Bitcoin Pizza Day with the Satoshi To USD BTC Unit Converter
The Satoshi To USD BTC Unit Converter takes three inputs — Satoshis, BTC price ($), Count. USD = sats ÷ 100,000,000 × price. With its default inputs (Satoshis = 100000; BTC price ($) = 65000; Count = 1) it returns 65 $; swap in the figures from Bitcoin Pizza Day above to reproduce the scenario yourself.
Data Table
| Date | Approx. BTC price | Value of 10,000 BTC |
|---|---|---|
| May 2010 | $0.004 | $41 |
| Nov 2013 | $1,150 | $11.5M |
| Dec 2017 | $19,700 | $197M |
| Nov 2021 | $69,000 | $690M |
| Dec 2024 | $100,000 | $1.0B |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who bought the pizzas?
Laszlo Hanyecz paid; Jeremy Sturdivant (jercos) placed the order and received the coins.
How many sats were spent?
1 trillion satoshis in total, since 10,000 BTC × 100,000,000 sats.
Did Laszlo regret it?
He has said repeatedly that he does not, because the trade helped bootstrap real usage.
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For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Figures are approximate and historical; crypto assets are volatile and you may lose capital. Do your own research.