Today is the day!
On May 22, 2010 Laszlo Hanyecz's offer to pay 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas was accepted by Jeremy Sturdivant on the BitcoinTalk forum.
Since that day, the Bitcoin community celebrates Pizza Day, because it was the first time, that Bitcoin gained some actual real world value.
The Twitter account Bitcoin Pizza keeps us updated every day about how much those pizzas would be worth today. Laszlo is remembered as "the guy who paid $80 million for a pizza" (or whatever today's amount is), and people wonder whether he regrets having spent those coins back then.
The problem is - had he never instigated this transaction, Bitcoin may have no value today. He must have had an inkling... according to this comment on the BitcoinTalk forum:
By November - just half a year later, those 10,000 BTC (and the pizzas...) were worth $2,600. Someone else had an inkling back then:
It's great fun to scroll through that thread.
It takes two...
But we shouldn't forget about Jeremy. If he hadn't accepted the deal, Bitcoin also may have no value today. It's one thing to offer Bitcoins (or pebbles, or paper clips...) in exchange for something, but they only gain value once someone accepts them as payment.
So let's not only remember Laszlo's name, but Jeremy's, too.
Laszlo is quite the hero, though, because this was not the only time he did that. If all the people held on to their 10,000 Bitcoins, he made a lot of them rich...
You can meet him in this 60 Minutes special that aired in the U.S. a few days ago, by the way.
About the author:
Anja Schuetz helps absolute beginners to become confident crypto investors. She also consults as a Customer Communication & Operations Manager for blockchain start-ups.
Anja offers a Free Bitcoin Beginner's Course when you sign up to her Conscious Crypto Museletter here: http://anjaschuetz.net and has also written a Beginner's Guide to Steemit