The first-ever Bitcoin transaction used to purchase an item remains a story of legends. It was in May 2010, when Jeremy Sturdivant, a California student noticed an intriguing request on a crypto internet forum. The request was from a Florida resident, Laszlo Hanyecz willing to trade Bitcoin for pizzas. Hanyecz was giving 10,000BTC in exchange for two large pizzas. By then this Bitcoin was worth $41.
The transaction occurred on 22nd May 2010, with the date currently celebrated in the crypto world as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”.
A few years after this expenditure the value of Bitcoin has grown by thousands. Currently trading at $46,000, the 1000BTC spent would have made Jeremy a millionaire at the moment.
However, Jeremy never realised the possible value of Bitcoin in the long run. Instead of treating it as an investment, he used it up as a medium of exchange. He used them to pay for various services on a road trip with his girlfriend.
Even with the full knowledge of what BTC has grown to become, Sturdivant has no regrets about how he spent the money. Instead, he is proud of having been instrumental in the start of the new crypto phenomenon. He was instrumental in kick-starting the use cases of crypto which would go on to define most of its market demand and rise.
At the same time, Hanyecz went on a spending spree with Bitcoin after the first payment. He spent almost 100,000BTC on pizza that summer. These are some significant amounts if the current values are anything to go by. In the same way as Sturdivant, he does not regret this spending. He has gone down as one of the most instrumental figures in the crypto world by launching the first crypto transaction.
Would you regret paying millions in Bitcoin for pizza?
Given the current value of Bitcoin, it’s unbelievable to imagine that someone has spent 1000 of them on two large pizzas. It’s akin to spending millions on a single pizza, which is ridiculous by every measurable standard. However, before talking about poor financing decisions, there’s a need to take things into context.
After the launch, Bitcoin took some time to gain value. It would take around two years to reach 1:1 with the US dollar. By the time the first 1000 BTC were used for the pizza, it was worth only $41. Therefore, by then every Bitcoin was less than $1.
Given the volatile nature of Bitcoin, the same can still happen with current users. Various merchants, both physical and online are accepting Bitcoin for payments. However, the value is not promised in the future. For example, there are predictions that Bitcoin might hit $200,000 in the next few years. By then it would be ridiculous having spent some amount of Bitcoin on a given product.
At the moment, Hanyecz is already warning people from buying Tesla using Bitcoin. He still believes the coin will have many gains. However, that does not mean you will regret having spent the coin at the time. Instead, you would have been instrumental in the crypto development.
Therefore, there’s no regret in spending millions in Bitcoin on pizza.
