To the general public, May 22 is just another day. However, that’s not the case for those in the crypto community. Instead, May 22 marks “Bitcoin Pizza Day,” a celebration of one of the first major milestones in cryptocurrency history.
On that day, fifteen years ago, Bitcoin was used to complete a real-world transaction for the first time. As the name suggests, that real-world product was pizza. Hence, to this day, celebrations of this “crypto holiday” have typically involved pizza in some way or another.
Many of the world’s largest crypto industry leaders have held a series of pizza parties around the world. However, this isn’t really a story about pizza. Nor is it a tale of high opportunity cost, as others may suggest. Rather, the main point of marking this event is to highlight how crypto is more than just a speculative asset class, but a high-utility means of exchange, and a viable alternative to traditional payment methods.
“From two pizzas to a global financial movement, crypto’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary—and our community has been the driving force behind it,” said Rachel Conlan, Chief Marketing Officer at Binance. “This year, we’re marking Bitcoin Pizza Day with the biggest BTC referral giveaway in history—$5 million worth—alongside over 28 local meetups and social activations. It’s our way of honoring how far we’ve come while inviting millions more into the crypto world.”
‘Bitcoin Pizza Day:’ The Full Story
Back on May 22, 2010, Bitcoin was still in its infancy. While the original cryptocurrency had by this time developed a small community of supporters/holders, it had yet to be used as a real-world medium of exchange.
That all changed, when on that day, early BitcoinTalk forum user Laszlo Hanyecz, through an intermediary, successfully purchased $25 worth of Papa John’s pizza. The price? 10,000 BTC, worth around $41 at the time. Given his willingness to trade Bitcoin at a discount for pizza, he was clearly hungry.
In hindsight, others may say he was foolhardy as well. After all, that $41 worth of Bitcoin would today be worth over $900 million at current BTC prices. Yet while this transaction is perhaps the modern day equivalent of explorer Peter Minuit’s $24 purchase of Manhattan Island, if this transaction didn’t happen, perhaps the history of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology would have played out far differently.
Again, the key takeaway with this story is how cryptos have high utility as a means of exchange, just as good as traditional payment methods. Sometimes, even better than traditional payment methods, as we’ll see below.
Celebrating ‘Pizza Day Stories’ of Real World Transactions
Given the true takeaway with “Bitcoin pizza day,” the best way to celebrate it may be to take a look at several cases of crypto being used as a means of exchange for everyday, real-life transactions. For this story, we asked cryptocurrency users to tell us their “pizza day stories.” Here are some of their responses.
First, there’s Codi, a Dubai-based Binance employee who on a trip to Türkiye, was in the mood for some of that country’s famed kebab. Codi could’ve used his AED-denominated bank card, but instead chose to complete the transaction via crypto, paying for his order using the Tether stablecoin. As Codi explains, “In 2023, I paid for a delicious Turkish kebab with USDT while visiting Turkey. It was incredibly convenient, and the exchange rate was much better than what my Dubai bank offered. Having crypto as a payment option made the whole trip feel smoother and more flexible—true worry-free travel.”
Another interesting story comes from a Canadian Binance team member named Jimmy. Back in 2012, Jimmy needed to buy a textbook. In his situation, it wasn’t a matter of choosing whether to pay in crypto or fiat currency. Jimmy had no choice, as the seller insisted on a crypto-based transaction. Jimmy bought 5 BTC for $65, used some of the BTC to buy the textbook, and held onto the rest, becoming an “accidental HODLer” in the process. As Jimmy explains his story, “My first encounter with crypto was in late 2012, when Bitcoin was around $13. I wasn’t thinking about investing, I just needed it to buy a textbook on compilers from an online seller who insisted on Bitcoin payment. I bought five whole Bitcoins on Coinbase, used a few to pay for the book, and forgot about the rest. I didn’t dive deeper into crypto until years later when I joined Binance. That old Coinbase account? It sat untouched for years, and I became an accidental HODLer.”
In both these situations, crypto proved to be a superior way to pay, but in other cases, it’s the only way to pay. That’s the story at hand with Andy, a Vietnamese traveler to Malaysia, who needed to put down a security deposit for lodging. However, without a local bank account, he couldn’t use traditional payment methods. Fortunately, Andy did have crypto in a Binance account, so he offered to make the deposit this way. Although the host ultimately waved the fee, this story goes to show how crypto can be helpful in a pinch.
Binance Angel @Gerrit92 got into crypto back in 2019. Through patient “buying and HODLing,” Gerrit92 built a small fortune. To celebrate, he cashed out some of his profits, using them to buy a Rolex. Besides fulfilling a long-held desire to own this valuable watch, the Rolex to this user also serves as a token of the friends and profits he has made via crypto. @Gerrit92 explains, “I’ve been investing in crypto since 2019 and have never cashed out a large amount. I traded occasionally to rebalance my portfolio, but I always believed in a long-term vision. After many years in crypto, I decided to take a small portion of my profits to invest in another asset, fulfilling a childhood dream with a valuable purchase, a Rolex. It may be less volatile, but I look at it every day, and it reminds me of crypto and the friends I’ve made in this community.”
The Takeaway
There are likely millions, if not hundreds of millions more of these “Bitcoin pizza stories,” tales of how crypto has not only revolutionized the world of high finance, but has also had a major impact on how we conduct personal transactions each and every day.
With this, let’s grab a slice of pizza, and make a toast to the Bitcoin pioneers who made it all happen!
No VCCircle journalist was involved in the creation/production of this content.
