Hanyecz's Historic Pizza Deal: A $777 Million Lesson in Cryptocurrency Volatility
In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz made a historic transaction by exchanging 10,000 BTC for two large Papa John's pizzas on May 22. He posted his offer on BitcoinTalk forum three days earlier, requesting specific toppings and sparking debate over the efficiency of this early exchange. At the time, the 10,000 BTC cost Hanyecz approximately $41.
Jeremy Sturdivant accepted the offer using the username jercos and paid around $25 for the pizzas, keeping the 10,000 BTC. This transaction is recorded in block 57,043 of the blockchain. Hanyecz's early work on porting the Bitcoin client to macOS and GPU mining also contributed significantly to the development of the cryptocurrency.
Fast forward to 2018, Hanyecz used the Lightning Network for another pizza purchase, spending only 0.00649 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas. He told Cointelegraph that he doesn't regret the original transaction, citing its significance in early Bitcoin history. In fact, he spent a total of 100,000 BTC on food orders in the following weeks.
Today, if we were to value those 10,000 BTC at their current price, it would be over $777 million based on the May 2026 price of $77,787 per coin. However, this is lower than the $1.106 billion valuation seen during the 2025 anniversary, highlighting Bitcoin's volatility and market fluctuations.
The 10,000 BTC used in 2010 equals a staggering value of over 650 billion Euros, making it one of the most valuable early transactions in cryptocurrency history. Despite this, Hanyecz remains humble about his role in shaping the industry, saying that he was 'part of early history'.