Originally published on: November 23, 2024
Back in 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made a fateful decision to order two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 BitcoinBTC. Little did he know that this seemingly innocent transaction would go down in crypto history as one of the costliest mistakes ever made. Fast forward to today, and those two pizzas are now worth close to $1 billion.
In a recent interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Hanyecz recounted the infamous event, which marked the first commercial Bitcoin transaction in history. The price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed over the years, turning Hanyecz’s pizza purchase into a perpetual meme within the crypto community.
Known as ‘Pizza Day,’ the incident took place on May 22, 2010, when Hanyecz exchanged 10,000 BTC for two pizzas valued at $41 at the time. By 2016, the same amount of Bitcoin was worth around $4.4 million. Two years later, on Pizza Day 2018, the value surged to $41 million, a remarkable tenfold increase from 2016.
In 2020, Bitcoin prices reached new heights, resulting in an opportunity cost of over $80 million for the 10,000 BTC. By Pizza Day 2022, this opportunity cost had grown exponentially to over $300 million. However, the bear market of 2023 saw a reversal in this trend, with the total value dropping to around $268 million.
Industry experts are now predicting a Bitcoin price target of $180,000 by 2025, which could potentially push the opportunity cost of the 10,000 BTC to close to $2 billion by Pizza Day 2025.
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