Every year on May 22, it's a special day for those in the crypto space.
Ten years ago today, Bitcoin was first priced, and since then it truly began to hold exchange value, marking this day as Bitcoin's anniversary, famously known as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
As for the origin of Bitcoin Pizza Day, it's quite an interesting story.
After Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin, very few in the world actually knew about or used it; for a long time, Bitcoin was just a topic of discussion among crypto geeks.
It all started on May 18, 2010, when a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the Bitcoin forum expressing his hope to trade 10,000 Bitcoins for two large pizzas from Papa John’s (worth $40 at the time). Gradually, people started paying attention to this post, and three days later, a crypto enthusiast named jercos, taking advantage of a deal, spent $25 to buy two pizzas and sent them to Laszlo, fulfilling the promise and receiving the 10,000 Bitcoins.
Although Laszlo posted on the 18th, the actual transaction took place on May 22, which people chose as the official commemorative date, thus May 22 is celebrated as 'Bitcoin Pizza Day.'
Based on the price of pizza back then, the initial price of Bitcoin was $0.004, and now Bitcoin is hovering around $8,000. Compared to the price back then, that's a 2 million times increase. Those 10,000 Bitcoins he spent on pizza are now worth about $80 million, which translates to roughly 560 million RMB. This guy essentially missed out on becoming a billionaire by swapping Bitcoin for pizza.
I wonder how Laszlo feels seeing the current Bitcoin price?
Before the Bitcoin Pizza Day rolls around, a foreign media crew reached out to Laszlo for an interview.
When asked by the host if he regretted selling so many Bitcoins, Laszlo said, 'I don't regret it. Being part of Bitcoin in its early days was a great thing. Everyone knows I bought pizza with Bitcoin, and back then, I didn’t think Bitcoin would be as popular as it is now. I just thought it was super cool to use Bitcoin to buy pizza.'
Laszlo later mentioned that he's no longer hung up on the past because if you keep dwelling on it, you can’t maintain inner peace, and that’s not a good thing.
In response to reporters' questions, it’s clear that Laszlo has become very calm, embodying a carefree attitude. It reminds us that the reason we all hustle to make money is for our physical or spiritual freedom. If money disrupts our inner peace, it ends up being a loss rather than a gain!
