Sixteen years ago today, Florida programmer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoin for two large Papa John’s pizzas. At the time, the coin was worth about $41. As of this Pizza Day, it’s worth $777.87 million — down $328 million from last year’s total.
Bitcoin Pizza Day, saw May 22 each, showing the first transaction using Bitcoin – when the digital currency ceased to be a speculative experiment and became a means of exchanging real goods.
On May 18, 2010, Hanyecz has been sent on the BitcoinTalk forum with a direct offer: 10,000 BTC to anyone who wants to order two pizzas for him. Some forum users were skeptical – one said they could sell the coins for $41 cash.
Hanyecz’s answer was simple: “I just thought it would be interesting if I could say that I paid for the pizza in Bitcoins”. Four days later, 19-year-old Jeremy Sturdivant agreed, ordered pies from Papa John’s, and collected 10,000 BTC manually. Bitcoin had its first exchange rate with a good buyer.
Bitcoin haircut for $328 million
Every May 22nd, a fixed 10,000 BTC is recalculated to the daily price – the cleanest yearly mark the crypto has. In 2024, that amount was $674 million. In 2025, it will reach $1.106 billion, with Bitcoin trading at $110,568 on the same day. Today, with Bitcoin close to $77,300, the stack is worth $777.87 million – down 29.7% from last year.
The decline began on October 6, 2025, when Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $126,000. Four days later, President Donald Trump he announced 100% cost of Chinese investment and export controls for the most difficult US program.
In a few hours, the total crypto market capitalization fell to about $200 billion in one session, Bitcoin fell from $122,000 to $107,000, and about $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated – the largest one-day liquidation event in crypto history.
Worst debut since 2018
Q1 2026 was Bitcoin’s third worst quarter on record, closing down 23.2%, with Bitcoin ETFs hemorrhaging $4.5 billion in outflows in the first eight weeks of the year. The Iran tensions added to the pressure, while the February 28 US-Israeli airstrike set off a tense exchange, search for Bitcoin between $60,000 and $75,000 for the duration of March.
Q2 has brought a bit of a recovery – Bitcoin has risen approx 14% over the quarter – but the broader crypto market sits at $2.65 trillion today, down from $2.9 trillion a week ago.
