by AK Arora 
May 22, 2010. A programmer in Florida is hungry.
He doesn’t want to cook. He wants two large Papa John’s pizzas delivered to his door. Simple enough request — except he wants to pay for them in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin at this point is 16 months old. It has no exchange rate. No merchant support. No clear value. It exists as lines of code shared between a handful of cryptography enthusiasts on internet forums. The price? Roughly $0.004 per coin.
Laszlo Hanyecz posts on the Bitcointalk forum:
“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.”
An 18-year-old named Jeremy Sturdivant — username “jercos” — sees the post. He orders two Papa John’s pizzas online, pays $25 for them, and has them delivered to Laszlo’s address in exchange for 10,000 BTC.
The transaction takes a few minutes. The pizzas arrive. Laszlo eats them and goes to bed.
On Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026 — the 16th anniversary of that meal — those same 10,000 BTC are worth approximately $772 million.
The most expensive dinner in human history. And Laszlo says he does not regret a single bite.
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated every year on May 22 — the anniversary of the first documented commercial transaction using Bitcoin.
Every year on this date, the crypto community comes together to mark the occasion with pizza, price comparisons, and the annual reminder of what HODLing Bitcoin for 16 years would actually look like.
It is equal parts celebration and cautionary tale — a story about value, timing, conviction, and the extraordinary journey of a technology that most people dismissed as nonsense.
The Full Story — How It Actually Happened
The Bitcointalk Post
On May 18, 2010 — four days before the transaction — Laszlo posted his now-legendary offer on the Bitcointalk forum:
“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. You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I’m aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don’t have to order or prepare it myself.”
He continued: “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins… You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house… I just want to be able to order pizza from a delivery place, kinda like the Chinese food, but this time using bitcoins.”
The forum largely ignored it. Bitcoin was worth fractions of a cent. Who would bother?
Jeremy Steps Up
Four days later, on May 22, Jeremy Sturdivant — an 18-year-old living in California — accepted the offer. He called a local Papa John’s in Florida, paid $25 by credit card, and had two large pizzas delivered to Laszlo’s house.
Then he posted on the forum: “I just want to report that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza.”
Laszlo confirmed: “I didn’t think I’d get any takers so quickly.”
The transaction was complete. The first commercial Bitcoin payment in history had been made for two large pizzas.
The Numbers — What 10,000 BTC Is Worth Today
Every May 22, the crypto world runs the same calculation. Here is how it has grown over the years:
| Year | BTC Price | 10,000 BTC Value | Pizza Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 (purchase) | $0.004 | $41 | 2 Papa John’s pizzas |
| 2011 | $1 | $10,000 | 400 pizzas |
| 2013 | $100 | $1,000,000 | 40,000 pizzas |
| 2017 | $10,000 | $100,000,000 | 4 million pizzas |
| 2021 (ATH) | $69,000 | $690,000,000 | 27.6 million pizzas |
| 2025 (ATH) | $126,000 | $1.26 billion | 50.4 million pizzas |
| May 22, 2026 | $77,209 | $772 million | 30.8 million pizzas |
On Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026, those 10,000 BTC were worth $777.87 million — down $328 million from last year’s anniversary price.
To put $772 million in perspective — it would be enough to:
- Buy approximately 30.8 million pizzas at $25 each
- Purchase a professional sports franchise stake
- Fund a mid-sized country’s education budget for a year
- Buy every Indian who holds crypto a pizza — with change to spare
Laszlo Hanyecz — The Man Behind the Pizza
The world knows Laszlo as the man who spent $772 million on pizza. What most people don’t know is how significant his contributions to Bitcoin actually were.
His Technical Contribution Was Enormous
Hanyecz helped Bitcoin’s technical growth. According to early accounts he had done important work in the field of GPU mining — the change that enabled miners to use graphics cards rather than regular computer processors. It improved the speed of mining and demonstrated the ability of the network to dynamically change.
Before Laszlo’s GPU mining work, Bitcoin was mined using regular computer CPUs — slow, inefficient, and limited. His code allowed miners to use graphics cards — the same technology that now powers modern crypto mining operations globally.
In other words: without Laszlo’s mining contribution, Bitcoin’s network might have grown significantly slower in its critical early years.
He Does Not Regret It
This is the question every journalist asks Laszlo. Every time, the answer is the same.
Hanyecz has called the transaction “incredibly cool.”
In various interviews over the years, he has been consistent: he was not making an investment. He was making a point. He wanted to demonstrate that Bitcoin could work as a medium of exchange — that it could buy something real in the real world.
“I had no idea how huge it would become.” — Laszlo Hanyecz, Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026
The transaction proved Bitcoin’s concept. That was the point. The fact that he would have been a billionaire had he held is beside the point — at least to Laszlo.
Jeremy Sturdivant — The Other Side of the Trade
Less discussed is the teenager who ordered the pizzas. Jeremy Sturdivant was 18 when he received 10,000 BTC.
He spent the Bitcoin relatively quickly — using it to fund a road trip across the United States. He has said in interviews that he does not dwell on what might have been.
At Bitcoin’s 2025 peak, Jeremy’s 10,000 BTC would have been worth $1.26 billion. He received it for a $25 pizza order and a phone call.
The 16th Anniversary — Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026
Bitcoin Pizza Day, observed each May 22, marks the first commercial transaction using Bitcoin — the moment a digital currency stopped being a theoretical experiment and became a medium of exchange for real goods.
The 2026 celebration came at an interesting moment for Bitcoin — the crypto market was in a slight slump, with BTC slowly bleeding away gains made over the past month, dropping to $77,200 after a rally to over $82,500 just 10 days prior.
Despite the price correction, the community celebrated enthusiastically:
- Binance and Bitget ran pizza promotions globally
- Thousands of crypto meetups organized worldwide
- #BitcoinPizzaDay trended on X (Twitter) globally
- Bitcoin Magazine posted Laszlo’s quote: “I had no idea how huge it would become”
Every May 22, that fixed 10,000 BTC gets revalued at the day’s spot price — the cleanest annual benchmark crypto has.
What Bitcoin Pizza Day Actually Teaches Us
The story is usually told as a cautionary tale — “imagine if he’d held!” But that misses what the day actually means.
1. Proof of Concept
Before May 22, 2010, Bitcoin was purely theoretical as a payment system. The pizza transaction proved it worked. Real goods. Real delivery. Real world. That demonstration of functionality was worth more than any amount of holding.
2. The Adoption S-Curve
It took just 2.5 years for Bitcoin to exceed the price of a $20 pizza, and today, 1 BTC can buy over 3,800 pizzas. At Bitcoin’s peak in October 2025, that figure reached 6,236 pizzas.
The hockey-stick growth of Bitcoin from $0.004 to $126,000 illustrates the classic technology adoption S-curve. Early adopters always look foolish — until they look like geniuses.
3. Nobody Knows the Future
Laszlo was not stupid. He was rational. At $0.004 per coin, spending 10,000 BTC for $41 worth of pizza made complete economic sense. The information available in May 2010 gave no reason to expect 10,000 BTC would ever be worth $772 million.
The lesson is not “hold everything forever.” It is: technological paradigm shifts are almost impossible to price correctly in real time.
4. Use Creates Value
Laszlo’s transaction proved Bitcoin had real-world utility. That utility is what gave it value. The pizza order was not a mistake — it was a demonstration that accelerated adoption.
Bitcoin Pizza Day in India — The Numbers
For Indian crypto investors, the Pizza Day calculation has a special dimension:
| Year | 10,000 BTC in INR |
|---|---|
| 2010 | ~₹1,800 |
| 2017 | ~₹65 crore |
| 2021 | ~₹5,100 crore |
| 2025 ATH | ~₹1,058 crore (~₹1,000 crore+) |
| May 22, 2026 | ~₹6,450 crore |
India’s 119 million crypto users celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day with a unique perspective — in a country where gold has been the traditional store of value for millennia, Bitcoin’s pizza-to-₹6,450-crore journey resonates deeply.
How is Bitcoin Pizza Day Celebrated?
Every May 22, the crypto world comes alive:
Global celebrations:
- Major exchanges (Binance, Bitget, OKX) run pizza-themed promotions
- Free pizza events in major cities worldwide
- Bitcoin conferences and meetups
- Social media — #BitcoinPizzaDay trends globally
Indian celebrations:
- Crypto communities organize pizza meetups
- Indian exchanges run promotions
- Twitter/X trends in Indian crypto community
The annual ritual: Every year, crypto enthusiasts calculate what Laszlo’s 10,000 BTC would be worth — and share the number with appropriate levels of awe and humor.
FAQs — Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026
When is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated every year on May 22 — the anniversary of Laszlo Hanyecz’s 10,000 BTC pizza transaction in 2010.
How much were the Bitcoin Pizza Day pizzas worth in 2026?
On Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026 (May 22, 2026), the 10,000 BTC used to buy two pizzas was worth approximately $772 million (~₹6,450 crore).
Who bought the first pizza with Bitcoin?
Laszlo Hanyecz — a Florida-based programmer — bought two large Papa John’s pizzas on May 22, 2010, paying 10,000 BTC. An 18-year-old named Jeremy Sturdivant ordered and paid for the pizzas in exchange for the Bitcoin.
How much did Laszlo pay for the pizzas?
Laszlo paid 10,000 BTC for two large Papa John’s pizzas. At the time, those coins were worth approximately $41. As of Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026, those same coins are worth approximately $772 million.
Does Laszlo Hanyecz regret buying the pizzas?
No. Laszlo has repeatedly stated that he does not regret the transaction. He called it “incredibly cool” and said his goal was to demonstrate Bitcoin’s real-world utility as a payment system — not to make an investment.
What did Laszlo contribute to Bitcoin beyond the pizza?
Laszlo was one of Bitcoin’s earliest and most important technical contributors. He developed GPU mining — allowing miners to use graphics cards instead of CPUs — which significantly accelerated Bitcoin’s network growth and mining efficiency.
Why is Bitcoin Pizza Day important?
It marks the first documented commercial Bitcoin transaction — the moment Bitcoin proved itself as a functional medium of exchange, not just theoretical code. This proof of concept was a foundational moment in cryptocurrency history.
How many pizzas could 10,000 BTC buy today?
At $77,209 per BTC on Pizza Day 2026 — and a $25 pizza — 10,000 BTC could buy approximately 30.8 million pizzas.
Conclusion
Every year on May 22, the crypto world gathers to celebrate the most expensive meal in history — and the man who ate it without regret.
Laszlo Hanyecz’s pizza order was not a mistake. It was a proof of concept that helped establish Bitcoin as a legitimate medium of exchange. Without that transaction — without someone willing to actually use Bitcoin for something real — the technology might have remained a theoretical curiosity for much longer.
Yes, $772 million is a staggering number to associate with two pizzas. Yes, the “if only he’d held” calculation will be made every May 22 until Bitcoin itself ceases to exist.
But here is the more honest reading of the story: in May 2010, Laszlo made a perfectly rational decision with the information available to him. He got his pizzas. He proved his point. And in doing so, he helped build something that transformed global finance.
The pizzas were worth $41. The lesson they bought was priceless.
Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day. 🍕
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Past performance does not guarantee future returns.
