Bitcoin's 'Pizza Day' Celebrates 16 Years Since First Commercial Transaction

The Bitcoin community celebrated the 16th anniversary of “Pizza Day” on Friday, marking the first recorded commercial Bitcoin transaction, in which real-world goods were purchased with Bitcoin.

In May 2010, software developer Laszlo Hanyecz published an online post offering 10,000 BTC, which was valued at about $41 at the time, in exchange for two Papa John's pizzas.

At current market prices, the BTC is worth more than $767 million, and at the all-time high of about $126,000 reached in October 2025, the 10,000 BTC was valued at more than $1.2 billion. Nischal Shetty, the founder of crypto exchange WazirX, said:

“Bitcoin Pizza Day is one of the most important moments in crypto history because it transformed Bitcoin from an internet experiment into a real economic network. It was actually the first proof that a decentralized digital asset could facilitate real-world commerce.”

At the time, only a “few hundred” transactions were processed on the Bitcoin network daily, and there was “almost no” Bitcoin payment infrastructure, service providers or institutional involvement, Shetty added.

Laszlo Hanyecz in 2010, with the two Papa John's pizzas. Source: Coingecko

Hanyecz’s transaction showed that Bitcoin can be used as a medium of exchange to pay for goods and services in the real world, moving the world's first digital currency from online experimentation to real-world utility.

Related: US lawmakers renew strategic Bitcoin reserve push with ARMA bill

Bitcoiners now have their eyes set on nation-state adoption

In 2024, nation-state adoption of Bitcoin began to capture narrative attention, with the Bitcoin community supporting initiatives like a strategic Bitcoin reserve and tax exemptions for Bitcoin payments.

The Iranian government announced in April 2026 that oil ships crossing through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping waterway located in the Persian Gulf, could pay for shipping tolls in Bitcoin, US dollar stablecoins and Chinese yuan.

A timeline of the Iranian government's adoption of Bitcoin and other digital assets. Source: Bitcoin Policy Institute

However, there is no onchain evidence of an oil toll being paid in BTC at the time of publication. Instead, Tether’s USDt dollar-pegged stablecoin continues to be the payment method of choice for the tolls, according to Sam Lyman, the head of research at Bitcoin Policy Institute, a digital asset advocacy organization.