Meet Laszlo Hanyecz: The Man Behind the Historic 10,000 BTC Pizza Purchase

You might think you've never heard of Laszlo Hanyecz, a Florida-based programmer working for the online retail company GoRuck, but you'd probably be wrong. Hanyecz made cryptocurrency history when he purchased two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) on May 22, 2010, creating what we now celebrate as Bitcoin Pizza Day.

This groundbreaking transaction wasn't a solo endeavor. Jeremy Sturdivant, known online as "Jasco," was the other party in this historic deal, receiving the 10,000 BTC which he used to arrange the delivery of two pizzas. At the time of the purchase, those bitcoins were worth roughly $41. Today, that same amount would be valued at billions of dollars, making this perhaps the most expensive meal in history.

Since this landmark transaction—the first documented exchange of Bitcoin for a physical good—the cryptocurrency's use cases have expanded dramatically. Users can now leverage Bitcoin for real estate transactions, online shopping, flight bookings, and of course, still for pizza. This pivotal moment helped demonstrate Bitcoin's practical utility beyond being merely digital code, paving the way for its evolution into a recognized asset class. Every May 22, the crypto community commemorates this transaction, reflecting on how far digital currencies have come from those early experimental days.