It is that time of the year again – Bitcoin Pizza Day! On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 BTC for two pizzas at Papa John’s pizza place. Laszlo was a software engineer and also a Bitcoin advocate at the time. Over the years, many have jested at him for his reckless decision, while others have praised him for giving Bitcoin its first use case. 10,000 BTC is worth almost $400 million today.
10,000 Bitcoin for 2 Pizzas
The global Bitcoin community celebrates this event because Bitcoin went through a revolution of sorts on that day. It went from just being a potentially revolutionary form of finance, to actual sound money. 2010 was just 2 years after the 2008 housing market crash. People were still recovering from the global financial crisis and had questions about the economic models and policies back then. Moreover, real doubt was beginning to spread around about the legitimacy of fiat currency as a store of value. Bitcoin offered new hope to the people.
12 Years Later, Where is Bitcoin Now?
The last 12 years have been a rollercoaster for Bitcoin and its community. China has banned bitcoin over 10 times in the last 10 years while the mainstream media has pronounced Bitcoin dead over 400 times. Yet, this dynamic asset keeps rising AND RISING. Over the past decade, Bitcoin has risen by over 9,000,000%. This means that if you bought just $100 worth of Bitcoin in 2010, you have over $9,000,100 right now.
Bitcoin is substantially higher and in a better place than 10 years ago, not just price-wise, but also fundamentally. Several nations, including Brazil, El Salvador, and the Central African Republic have committed to making Bitcoin legal tender. Moreover, multi-national corporations like Microstrategy, Tesla, Square Inc., and Microsoft have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets.
What the Future Holds
Moving forward, Bitcoin has its eyes on much larger prey, mainly the United States. However, this prey is not going to be easy to take down. The Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has been breathing down Bitcoin evangelists’ necks. Bitcoin’s future, however, seems bright considering where it started.
Bitcoin has always been a volatile currency but the recent rally has surprised many experts. The bitcoin community has grown and now you can buy all the Pizza you want using Bitcoin at hundreds of different restaurants around the world. The transactions are not only fast, but also very cheap. The goal of Bitcoin Pizza Day, which was to make cryptocurrency mainstream, has definitely been achieved so far.