Happy 20m$ Bitcoin Pizza Day!

aaronkoenig (68)in #bitcoin • 7 years ago (edited)

On May 22nd 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz from Florida bought two pizzas for Bitcoin. This was the first purchase of a real product for digital currency, so the Bitcoin community celebrates May 22nd as "Bitcoin Pizza Day".

A dancing pizza

It is astonishing how Bitcoin has evolved in only 7 years. Laszlo spent 10,000 Bitcoins on the two pizzas, which was about 40 US dollars then. Today, these 10,000 Bitcoins have a value of 2,2 million US dollars!

Many Bitcoiners are in New York today, as it is the first day of the Consensus Conference. So my friend and business partner Rodolfo Andragnes had the idea to meet up in a pizzeria with some friends at midnight to have some pizza to celebrate.

Bitcoin Pizza Man Rodolfo Andragnes

He is from Buenos Aires, where all restaurants are open until at least 2am because many people go out to eat dinner around midnight. When he phoned up several Pizza places to reserve a table for 40 to 50 people, he was surprised that all good pizzerias in New York close much earlier.

Bitcoiners going wild at VNYL club

But then Brock Pierce, Bitcoin early adopter and venture capitalist, came into the play. He suggested to throw a big party with DJs, performers and several hundred guests.

Hot pizza girls

I wondered how you could organise such a big party in only one day, but Brock and Rodolfo did it. These guys are incredible! The VNYL on 3rd Avenue was packed with Bitcoiners from all around the world.

The party flyer

There were lots of free pizzas all night, funky music and some drag queens and go-go girls dressed up as giant pizzas. It was a great event and a good opportunity to see many old friends again and to meet new people.

Giant Dancing Pizzas

Steem's founder Ned Scott was there, too. It was great to finally meet him in person. Another famous Steemian I was glad to see again was Roeland P, the organiser of SteemFest.