The pizza coins
10,000 bitcoin for two pizzas. One side held. The other spent them within months.
10,000 BTCpaid for two pizzas in May 2010, about $41 then
What they did
Laszlo Hanyecz, a Florida programmer, offered 10,000 BTC on Bitcointalk for pizza. Jeremy 'jercos' Sturdivant, 19, paid with a credit card and received the coins. Both were early users of an obscure protocol.
What they did not choose
Curiosity in 2010 was not a forecast of $100,000. Sturdivant treated the coins as spending money and cycled them back into the small Bitcoin economy as the price crept toward $1. The same 10,000 coins produced a fortune for a holder and two pizzas for a spender.
Figures
- 10,000 BTC ≈ $41 in May 2010 (Fortune).
- At the November 2021 peak near $69,000, 10,000 BTC ≈ $690 million (crypto.news).
- At later prices near $110,000, the same coins would be worth about $1.1 billion (Fortune).
- Sturdivant spent most coins on travel and goods well before $1 (crypto.news interview).