Bitcoin Pizza Day: The 10,000 BTC Transaction That Became Crypto's Most Famous Trade

Sixteen years ago today, Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made history by paying 10,000 Bitcoin for two Papa John's pizzas — widely recognized as the first documented real-world commercial transaction using Bitcoin. At the time, the sum was roughly equivalent to $41, making each pizza worth about $20.

Today, those same 10,000 BTC are valued at over $775 billion, a figure that underscores just how dramatically the asset has appreciated since its earliest days as an experimental peer-to-peer currency. The transaction is commemorated annually on May 22 as Bitcoin Pizza Day across the crypto community.

Hanyecz himself has said he has no regrets — the trade helped prove Bitcoin could function as a medium of exchange, a milestone that mattered far more than the price at the time. The story remains one of the most cited examples of Bitcoin's long-run appreciation and the risks of spending…