The Bitcoin Pizza

The Bitcoin Pizza is a reference to two ordinary pizzas that happen to mark a key point in the history of cryptocurrency, not from any special construct in their ingredients but rather in the method of purchase.  The Bitcoin Pizza was born on May 22, 2010 marking a milestone that is understood to be the first real-world transaction involving bitcoin.

4 days earlier on May 18, Laszlo Hanyecz a programmer and one of the first generations of bitcoin miners from Jacksonville, Florida wrote on the pages of Bitcoin Forum "I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas.."

On May 22, 2010, 07:17:26 PM Lazslo posted that he had successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for Pizza " ... Thanks jercos!"

The Actual Bitcoin Pizza(s)

"Jercos" was a reference to Jeremy Sturdivant the volunteer involved in the transaction which was eventuated via IRC chats. 

Thanks to the blockchain that historic transaction is still available for all to see ( a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d )

For cryptocurrency enthusiasts the date of that first transaction became enshrined in crypto-lore and is celebrated as the tradition of Bitcoin Pizza Day annually.

Bitcoin had not even been around for 2 years when Laslo decided to spend some of his hard mined cryptocurrency on those pizza's. At the time each Bitcoin was worth just a fraction of a cent.  The now legendary two large Papa John's pizzas were thought to have been worth about $40 at the time of the transaction.

Since that day the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed, even with massive dips in the market the price remains astronomical.  A measure of the relative worth of those two pizzas today was developed and is now known as the Bitcoin Pizza Index.

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