Laszlo Hanyecz was hungry. It was May 2010. At the time, Bitcoin was barely a blip on the radar of a few dozen cryptography nerds and cypherpunks. It wasn't an "asset class." It wasn't a "hedge against inflation." Honestly, it was just a weird digital experiment that most people thought was worthless. Hanyecz, a programmer from Florida, decided to see if he could actually use his "magic internet money" to buy something real. He posted on the Bitcointalk forum offering 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas.
He waited.
Days passed.
Then, a 19-year-old student named Jeremy Sturdivant (user "jercos") took him up on the offer. He bought two large pizzas from Papa John's and delivered them to Laszlo's house in exchange for the coins. That moment, when a guy buys pizza with bitcoin, became the first documented commercial transaction using the cryptocurrency. People celebrate "Bitcoin Pizza Day" every May 22nd now. It’s a meme. It’s a legend. But if you look under the hood of what actually happened, the story is way more interesting—and a bit more complex—than just a guy who "lost" hundreds of millions of dollars on lunch.
Why 10,000 BTC Wasn't a Crazy Offer (In 2010)
Context is everything. You can't look at the $600 million or $700 million value of those coins today and call Laszlo "unlucky." Back then, Bitcoin had no market price. There were no exchanges like Coinbase or Binance. You couldn't just check a ticker on your phone. Most people were mining it on their home laptops just for the hell of it.
Hanyecz had mined those coins himself. To him, they were basically free. He estimated the value of each coin at roughly $0.0041. So, 10,000 coins for $41 worth of pizza? That was actually a fair trade at the time. It might even have been an overpayment if you consider how hard it was to find anyone willing to accept a string of digital code for physical dough and cheese.
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The transaction happened on a Saturday. Laszlo posted the request on May 18th. He didn't get his pizza until May 22nd. Think about that for a second. The first-ever crypto transaction took four days to clear because he had to wait for someone to take the risk.
The Logistics of the First Bitcoin Purchase
This wasn't a direct "Point of Sale" transaction. Papa John's didn't have a "Pay with Bitcoin" button. It was a peer-to-peer deal. Sturdivant bought the pizzas with his own credit card or cash and had them delivered to Laszlo’s house. In exchange, Laszlo sent the 10,000 BTC to Sturdivant’s wallet.
The Real Details of the Order:
- The Pizzas: Two large pizzas.
- The Toppings: Laszlo specifically asked for "standard stuff" like onions, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, and olives. No weird anchovy requests.
- The Store: A local Papa John’s in Jacksonville, Florida.
- The Value: Approximately $25 to $30 for the food, though Sturdivant's "labor" in facilitating the trade was baked into the price.
Laszlo even posted pictures of the pizzas online. They looked like... well, ordinary pizzas. But those photos are now some of the most famous images in financial history. They represent the bridge between a digital abstraction and the physical world.
What Happened to Jeremy Sturdivant?
Everyone talks about Laszlo "spending" the money, but what about the guy who received it? Jeremy Sturdivant didn't become a billionaire. He didn't even become a millionaire from that specific deal.
He spent the 10,000 BTC fairly quickly.
He used them to travel and buy video games. In later interviews, Sturdivant admitted that he never saw Bitcoin as an investment vehicle back then. He saw it as a currency. To him, the 10,000 BTC was meant to be circulated. If everyone just hoarded their coins, the network would have died in its infancy. He essentially helped prove that Bitcoin worked as a medium of exchange. He doesn't regret it either. He's gone on record saying that being a part of that history was worth more than the potential "lost" gains.
The Butterfly Effect of the Pizza Purchase
If that guy buys pizza with bitcoin and nobody notices, does the industry still exist? Maybe. But that transaction gave Bitcoin its first "use case." It proved that someone, somewhere, was willing to trade real goods for private keys.
Before the pizza, Bitcoin was a toy for cryptographers. After the pizza, it was money.
This event actually created a valuation floor. Suddenly, Bitcoin wasn't worth zero. It was worth a fraction of a cent. That's a massive leap in economics. Once you move from "nothing" to "something," you can start building a market.
The "Regret" Myth and Laszlo's Perspective
People love to troll Laszlo Hanyecz. They tweet at him every time the price of BTC hits a new all-time high. "Hey Laszlo, that pizza is worth $700 million today! How do you feel?"
He’s actually remarkably chill about it.
He’s a developer. He’s still involved in the space. He even performed a similar feat in 2018, using the Lightning Network to buy more pizzas. He paid 0.00649 BTC that time. He does these things to test the technology, not to get rich. In his mind, he was an early adopter helping to stress-test a new protocol.
If he hadn't spent those coins, would Bitcoin have ever gained the traction it needed to reach $60,000 or $100,000? Probably not. The ecosystem needed pioneers who were willing to use the currency, not just sit on it like digital gold.
Misconceptions About the Transaction
- Myth: He did it because he was broke. Fact: He was a successful programmer; he just wanted to see if it would work.
- Myth: It was an official partnership with Papa John's. Fact: It was a private deal between two enthusiasts.
- Myth: He only did it once. Fact: Laszlo actually bought several pizzas using Bitcoin during that period, likely spending closer to 40,000 BTC in total.
The Technical Legacy: Why It Still Matters
When we look back at the guy buys pizza with bitcoin saga, we're looking at the birth of decentralized finance (DeFi). It showed that you don't need a bank to verify a transaction. You don't need a middleman to authorize a payment.
It also highlighted the early scalability issues. Even back then, people realized that using a global ledger to record a $25 pizza purchase might be overkill. This eventually led to the development of Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network, which aim to make small, everyday purchases fast and cheap without clogging up the main blockchain.
Actionable Insights for Modern Crypto Users
Understanding the pizza story isn't just a history lesson; it's a guide on how to navigate the space today.
Don't ignore the "Use Case" for the "Price"
Many people get blinded by the charts. They forget that for a technology to survive, it has to actually do something. Whether it's smart contracts, remittances, or decentralized identity, the value follows the utility.
The "Opportunity Cost" Trap
If you never spend your crypto because "it might be worth more tomorrow," you're not using a currency; you're holding a speculative collectible. There is a balance between long-term holding (HODLing) and participating in the economy.
Historical Significance is Rare
We often don't know we're making history while it's happening. Laszlo just wanted lunch. If you're building or using new tech today—be it AI agents, DAO structures, or ZK-proofs—you might be participating in the next "Pizza Day" without realizing it.
Verify Peer-to-Peer Trades
The pizza trade was built on trust in a public forum. Today, we have escrow services and smart contracts to ensure both parties hold up their end. If you are doing P2P trades, always use reputable platforms or multi-sig wallets to protect your assets.
Keep Your Own Keys
Laszlo could send those coins because he controlled them. If his Bitcoin had been sitting on a (hypothetical) 2010 exchange that went bust, the pizza trade never happens. The "Not your keys, not your coins" rule is as true now as it was then.
The Bitcoin pizza story is the ultimate "what if" of the digital age. It’s a reminder that the value of anything—be it a dollar bill, a gold bar, or a digital coin—is entirely dependent on what someone else is willing to give you for it. In 2010, that was two large pizzas. Today, it's a different world entirely.
Next Steps for Readers:
Check your own "dust" in old wallets. Many people who experimented with Bitcoin in the early days, much like Laszlo, left small amounts of BTC on old hard drives or in forgotten forum accounts. Given the current price of Bitcoin compared to 2010, even a few "milli-bitcoins" from a decade ago are worth significantly more than a couple of pizzas today. Research how to safely recover old private keys using tools like Electrum or specialized recovery services if you suspect you have "pizza-era" coins lying around.