Watch the story behind ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day.
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Video credit: 60 Minutes
They say hindsight is always perfect but sometimes hindsight also hurts bad especially when you realize just how much you’ve missed out on. When it comes to Bitcoin, there have been some pretty big winners and at the same time, some people who just managed to miss the boat or rather inadvertently jumped off it.
Such was the case of Laszlo Hanyecz who eventually became known as “the Bitcoin pizza guy” after he ended up buying two pizzas in 2010 with the Bitcoin he had. But no one could have blamed him then because, at the time, Bitcoin was still well on its way before being recognized as legit currency.
The computer programmer from Florida actually achieved a milestone of sorts because he became the first documented person in the world to purchase a real-world item with Bitcoin. The transaction involved buying two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 BTC through a bitcoin forum. Bitcoins were worth less than a penny then.
He even thanked 18-year-old Jeremy Sturdivant (jercos), the other party in the transaction, after the purchase was completed, writing: “I just want to report that I successfully traded 10,000 bitcoins for pizza. Thanks, jercos!”
Today, one Bitcoin is worth $8,000, meaning Hanyecz just spent $800 million for two pizzas.
Speaking for the first time since the incident happened nearly a decade ago, Hanyecz was interviewed by CBS News.
“That’s $80 million,” Cooper said. “You spent about $80 million on pizza?”
Hanyecz replied, “Well if you look at today’s exchange rate.”
Cooper follows up with: “Are there nights you wake up where you think, ‘I could have had $80 million… if I hadn’t bought those pizzas?'”
“I think thinking like that is… not really good for me,” Hanyecz said.
You don’t say.
Last year, he also told Coin Telegraph that he has no regrets.
He said: “I don’t regret it. I think that it’s great that I got to be part of the early history of Bitcoin in that way, and people know about the pizza and it’s an interesting story because everybody can kind of relate to that and be – “Oh my God, you spent all of that money!”
He added: “I didn’t think it would get as popular as it has, but it’s gotten to be a really catchy story for people.”
That’s a pretty muted reaction considering what happened but at least he has managed to stake his small claim to fame as his purchase led to people celebrating the date as “Bitcoin Pizza Day.”
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