Quick Answer: Bitcoin Pizza Day is observed every May 22 to mark the day in 2010 when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas — the first documented purchase of a physical product using bitcoin. The "Bitcoin Pizza Guy" is Hanyecz himself.
What Is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
Bitcoin Pizza Day is an annual community commemoration held on May 22. It remembers the first known instance of someone using bitcoin to buy a physical good, a trade that took place in 2010 between two early members of the Bitcoin community.
It is not an official holiday, and no single company or organization runs it. The date grew organically into a shared tradition among people in crypto. For many, it is a reminder that Bitcoin was originally pitched as peer-to-peer electronic cash rather than only a speculative asset.
Why the Event Exists
In 2010, bitcoin was barely more than a year old. The network's first block had been mined in January 2009, and there was no reliable market price, no major exchange, and almost nowhere to spend it. Coins were mostly passed around among hobbyists who mined them on ordinary computers.
Within that setting, buying something with bitcoin was genuinely difficult. That is why a successful real-world purchase was notable: it showed, for the first time, that the network could move value between two strangers for a concrete good.
The Story Behind the First Bitcoin Pizza Purchase
On May 22, 2010, a Florida-based programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the BitcoinTalk forum offering 10,000 BTC to anyone willing to order two large pizzas and have them delivered to his home.
A fellow forum member using the handle "jercos" — later identified as Jeremy Sturdivant — accepted. He ordered two pizzas from Papa John's and had them delivered, receiving 10,000 BTC in return.
How the trade actually worked
The transaction was not a seamless digital checkout. There was no payment app linking a wallet to a pizza shop. Instead, Hanyecz sent bitcoin directly to another person, who then placed the order and paid the restaurant in dollars. In effect, jercos acted as the middleman who converted an unusual digital asset into an ordinary physical good.
It is worth being precise about the wording: this is widely described as the first documented purchase of a physical item with bitcoin. It was not the first-ever bitcoin transfer, nor the first time the network sent coins between users.
Who Is the Bitcoin Pizza Guy?
The "Bitcoin Pizza Guy" is Laszlo Hanyecz, the person who offered the bitcoin in the 2010 trade.
Hanyecz was an early Bitcoin contributor, not just a casual user. He was active on the BitcoinTalk forum and worked on the software in Bitcoin's formative years. He is also credited with early work on using graphics cards (GPUs) to mine bitcoin, a technique that later became standard in mining.
He did not stop at two pizzas. Hanyecz repeated similar offers several times, exchanging tens of thousands of BTC for food over the early years of the network. In May 2018, he bought two pizzas again — this time paying with the Lightning Network, a layer built to make smaller bitcoin payments faster and cheaper. That repeat purchase is often highlighted as a sign of how far the technology had moved on from the 2010 experiment.
Over time he became a recognized figure in crypto history and has spoken publicly about his role in Bitcoin's early days.
How Much Was That Pizza Worth?
At the moment of the purchase, bitcoin had almost no established market price, and 10,000 BTC was worth only a few dozen dollars — barely more than the cost of the pizza itself.
As bitcoin's price rose over the following decade, the same 10,000 coins turned into a huge sum. Because the price moves constantly, any single figure is only a snapshot: for example, if one bitcoin trades at $60,000, those 10,000 coins would be worth about $600 million. The total depends entirely on the price at the moment you calculate it, so treat any headline number as a time-specific illustration rather than a fixed fact.
On the other side of the trade, jercos reportedly did not hold the coins for the long term and sold them for a modest amount, enough to fund a small purchase at the time. That contrast — a quick cash-out versus what the coins later represented — is part of why the story is told so often.
Common Misconceptions
- "The pizza cost hundreds of millions of dollars." It did not at the time. The purchase was worth only a few dozen dollars in May 2010. The huge figures people quote come from applying later bitcoin prices to the same 10,000 coins.
- "It was the first bitcoin transaction ever." It was the first documented purchase of a physical item, not the first transfer of bitcoin between users.
- "Hanyecz blew his fortune and regrets it." He has generally framed the purchase as a practical way to test and demonstrate the network rather than a purely financial decision.
- "Pizza Day is run by a company." It is a community tradition with no central organizer; events and promotions are put on by many independent groups.
How Bitcoin Pizza Day Is Celebrated Today
The date is usually marked with informal gatherings, social media posts, and occasional promotions from businesses that accept bitcoin. Some of these events also serve as fundraisers or as campaigns to encourage people to actually use crypto for payments, echoing the original point of the 2010 purchase.
FAQ
When is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
It is observed every year on May 22, the date of the 2010 purchase.
Who is the Bitcoin Pizza Guy?
Laszlo Hanyecz, the programmer who offered 10,000 BTC for two pizzas in 2010.
How many bitcoins were spent on the pizza?
10,000 BTC for two pizzas from Papa John's.
Who sold the pizza to Laszlo Hanyecz?
A BitcoinTalk user known as "jercos," later identified as Jeremy Sturdivant, who ordered and delivered the pizzas.
Was the pizza really worth millions?
Only in hindsight. At the time it was worth a few dozen dollars; its later value depends on bitcoin's price at the moment you calculate it.
Who This Article Is For
This article is for readers who want a clear, accurate explanation of Bitcoin Pizza Day and the Bitcoin Pizza Guy — whether you are new to crypto or just want the real story behind a frequently told anecdote.
Who Created This Content?
Craig Green is a financial journalist who joined the BitKan.com news team in 2022. With over two years of experience covering Asian stock markets and foreign exchange, he is now passionate about cryptocurrencies and holds Bitcoin and Ethereum. Previously, he contributed articles for Reuters.
Bottom Line
Bitcoin Pizza Day is more than a quirky anecdote. It marks the first documented time bitcoin was used to buy a real-world item, tells the story of an early contributor named Laszlo Hanyecz, and shows how dramatically the value and use of bitcoin have changed since 2010.
