Bitcoin Pizza Day 16th anniversary May 22

InternetH0F posted on X on May 21 that May 22 will mark the 16th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, the date tied to the first documented purchase of a physical good using bitcoin. The milestone traces back to programmer Laszlo Hanyecz, who used 10,000 BTC to obtain two pizzas in 2010. Crypto users have since treated the date as a shorthand for bitcoin’s move from software experiment to spendable asset. (en.bitcoin.it) ### Who actually made the pizza purchase? Laszlo Hanyecz is identified by the Bitcoin Wiki as the person who made the first documented purchase of a good with bitcoin. (en.bitcoin.it) The same entry says Hanyecz bought two Papa John’s pizzas from a user known as “jercos” for 10,000 BTC. May 17, 2010 is the date Hanyecz posted a request to buy pizza with bitcoin, according to the Bitcoin Wiki. May 22, 2010 is the date he reported that the trade had been completed. (en.bitcoin.it) ### Why is May 22, not May 17, the anniversary people use? May 22 is the date Hanyecz said the transaction had actually gone through. The Bitcoin Wiki says that was when he reported successfully trading 10,000 BTC for the pizzas, and that is why May 22 is the date commemorated as Bitcoin Pizza Day. (en.bitcoin.it) Analytics Insight, in a recent recap of the anniversary, also described May 22, 2010 as the date of the first widely recognized real-world bitcoin transaction. (en.bitcoin.it) ### How much was 10,000 BTC worth at the time? The Bitcoin Wiki says the 10,000 BTC used in the trade were quoted at $41 at the time of the offer. That figure is the basis for the familiar retelling that two pizzas once cost about $41 in bitcoin. (en.bitcoin.it) CoinDesk listed bitcoin at $77,659.59 on May 21, 2026. At that price, 10,000 BTC would be worth about $776.6 million, based on a simple multiplication of the current quoted price by the original number of coins spent. (analyticsinsight.net) ### Why does the story still circulate 16 years later? May 22 is now widely referred to as Bitcoin Pizza Day in crypto circles. The Bitcoin Wiki says the date is used to commemorate the transaction and notes that pizza providers have offered promotions around it. (en.bitcoin.it) The story persists partly because it gives bitcoin’s rise a concrete benchmark: a forum-era purchase of two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. The same transaction later became the basis for the so-called “Pizza Index,” which tracks what those coins would have been worth if they had been held instead of spent. (coindesk.com) The Bitcoin Wiki says that index started at $41 and topped $1.1 billion in May 2025. ### What did InternetH0F add this time? InternetH0F’s May 21 post framed the anniversary as arriving “tomorrow” and paired the claim with historical images from the episode, according to the source briefing provided for this story. (en.bitcoin.it) The post said the original 10,000 BTC purchase was worth about $41 at the time and roughly $776 million at current prices, figures that align with the historical record and current bitcoin pricing. May 22, 2026 is the next dated milestone in the story, when crypto users are expected to mark the 16th anniversary of the Hanyecz transaction across social platforms and industry promotions. (en.bitcoin.it)