The Guy Who Bought Pizza with Bitcoin: A $260 Million Story Without Regret

In May 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz made a decision that would etch his name into cryptocurrency folklore. He posted a simple offer on the Bitcoin Talk Forum: 10,000 bitcoins in exchange for two large pizzas. What seemed like an ordinary transaction at the time—the coins were worth roughly $30—would become the most memorable trade in digital currency history. Today, that guy who bought pizza with bitcoin is known worldwide not for the pizza itself, but for what his choice represents: an early believer’s unwavering faith in a technology most people didn’t understand.

When Bitcoin Pizza Day Changed Everything: The First Real-World Transaction

On May 18, 2010, at 12:35 PM, Laszlo posted his bounty with specific delivery instructions and taste preferences. The community response was slow—most Bitcoin enthusiasts at the time were still wrapping their heads around whether this “digital money” could function as actual currency. For four days, the post lingered without resolution. Then, on May 22, Laszlo confirmed the deal was done and shared a photo of the pizzas. That moment became Bitcoin Pizza Day, a date that would matter far more than anyone expected.

The historical weight of this transaction lies in what it proved: Bitcoin wasn’t just computer code or a theoretical experiment—it was money that could purchase real goods. Before that pizza purchase, Bitcoin existed in a strange limbo, accumulated by miners and hobbyists but never truly tested in commerce. This deal shattered that uncertainty. It demonstrated that the network functioned, that value could transfer across space, and that someone would actually accept these digital tokens for something tangible.

Laszlo’s Vision: Why a Programmer Saw Potential, Not Waste

Understanding Laszlo requires understanding who he was in 2010. He wasn’t a speculator or investor gambling on future wealth. He was one of Bitcoin’s earliest developers, a programmer who recognized something others missed. More importantly, he was the pioneer of GPU mining—a revolutionary technique that made mining far more efficient than CPU processing. His technical contributions to Bitcoin Core and the open-source community far exceeded the value of those 10,000 coins.

When Laszlo made the pizza trade, blockchain data from OXT shows his wallet held over 20,000 bitcoins at that time. He wasn’t desperate or forced into the exchange. Instead, he saw it as what it truly was: a free pizza purchased through his own technical contributions to an open-source project. In his own words, recorded in a 2019 Bitcoin Magazine interview, he explained the mindset: “I earned pizza by contributing to open source projects.” For him, the transaction represented a perfect circle—hobby investment, technical work, and real-world application all converging into a meal.

What makes Laszlo’s story even more remarkable is his response to the money he’s never had. Block explorer data indicates his holdings grew to over 43,000 BTC in June 2010 alone, and later records suggest he spent approximately 100,000 bitcoins across various transactions. That staggering amount is worth billions today. Yet when asked whether he regretted the pizza transaction, his answer was definitive: no. He wasn’t haunted by what-ifs or sleepless nights spent calculating lost wealth. Instead, he remained grounded in his original philosophy—Bitcoin was always a hobby, not a career path.

From Pizza to Millions: The Economic Lesson Nobody Expected

The numbers tell a staggering story. Those 10,000 bitcoins, worth $30 in May 2010, had appreciated to over $260 million by 2025. The two pizzas Laszlo ordered were likely priced between $25 and $30 total. From a pure financial perspective, he converted something worthless (digital tokens nobody wanted) into something invaluable—except he never sought that outcome. He simply wanted pizza.

This dynamic reveals something profound about early cryptocurrency adoption. The people who helped build Bitcoin into what it is today were rarely motivated by wealth accumulation. They were driven by technical curiosity, belief in decentralization, and the pure satisfaction of building something new. Laszlo embodied that spirit completely. He continued contributing to the Bitcoin ecosystem without seeking fame or recognition, maintaining a deliberately low profile and staying away from social media attention.

Jeremy’s Choice: The Other Half of Bitcoin History

The story of that pizza transaction is incomplete without Jeremy Sturdivant, the 19-year-old seller on the other side of the deal. Jeremy was also an early Bitcoin enthusiast, having been involved since 2009 and mining thousands of bitcoins himself. When Laszlo offered 10,000 bitcoins for pizzas, Jeremy wasn’t making a reckless choice—he was accepting what seemed like an exceptionally generous offer from someone eager to test Bitcoin’s real-world functionality.

What Jeremy did with those 10,000 bitcoins is telling. He spent them on travel with his girlfriend, experiencing the world rather than accumulating digital wealth. Years later, in a 2018 interview, Jeremy was asked if he regretted the decision. His response mirrored Laszlo’s: no. He calculated that the immediate payment he received—approximately $400 at the time—effectively appreciated tenfold through the pizzas’ purchasing power and the experience it enabled. From his perspective, he had made a profitable trade. More importantly, he had participated in a moment of genuine innovation.

Both men shared a common perspective: the transaction value extended beyond mere cryptocurrency speculation. They saw themselves as part of a movement testing whether digital currency could function in the real world. That shared mindset, across two different temperaments and life paths, became the real legacy of Bitcoin Pizza Day.

A Legacy Beyond Currency: What Pizza Day Really Means

Bitcoin Pizza Day has transcended its literal meaning. It’s become a cultural touchstone, a reminder that the earliest cryptocurrency adopters weren’t primarily motivated by speculation or wealth accumulation. Instead, they were pioneers willing to experiment with unproven technology, developers committed to open-source principles, and believers in the possibility of decentralized money.

The guy who bought pizza with bitcoin didn’t just purchase dinner—he created a permanent record of Bitcoin’s practical utility. Years later, Bitcoin Magazine celebrated Laszlo’s broader contributions to the ecosystem: his work on Bitcoin Core and GPU mining implementation on macOS, along with creating the most enduring meme in cryptocurrency culture. Those contributions arguably matter more than any single transaction, yet it’s the pizza that people remember and celebrate every May 22nd.

Today’s crypto market bears little resemblance to 2010. Speculation dominates headlines, fortunes are made and lost on price movements, and early adoption narratives often center on wealth accumulation. Yet the story of the guy who bought pizza with bitcoin endures because it tells a different tale—one of believers testing ideas, creators building systems, and individuals willing to stand by their decisions regardless of what hindsight suggests they “lost.”

Both Laszlo and Jeremy remained true to their original reasoning rather than being consumed by counterfactual regret. That consistency, that refusal to retroactively reframe a good-faith transaction into a mistake, is perhaps the most valuable lesson Pizza Day offers. It reminds the community that Bitcoin’s true value has never been measured solely in dollars—it’s measured in the audacity to imagine that peer-to-peer electronic cash could actually work.