Bitcoin has handed the $100,000 threshold for the primary time. At roughly 9:39PM ET this night, the cryptocurrency’s worth hit six figures, shifting it previous the milestone for the primary time in its almost 16-year historical past.
That additionally means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now price $1 billion. For these not within the loop, a Florida man — as a result of, in fact it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for 2 Papa John’s pizzas over 14 years in the past in what’s thought-about the cryptocurrency’s first industrial transaction.
“I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a few pizzas … like possibly 2 giant ones so I’ve some left over for the following day,” Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto discussion board on Might 18, 2010. 4 days later, a British man took him up on the provide. That quantity was solely price $45 on the time. (And the UK man solely paid Papa John’s $25!) However solely 9 months later, the transaction’s worth had skyrocketed to $10,000.
Hanyecz instructed The New York Instances in 2013 that he had no regrets in regards to the then-$6 million pizza order. “It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any worth again then, so the thought of buying and selling them for a pizza was extremely cool,” he mentioned. “Nobody knew it was going to get so large.”
I ponder if Florida Man has any regrets now that his charge for these two Papa John’s pizzas is price a billion {dollars}.
Taking a look at it one other method, Papa John’s present market cap is $1.567 billion. So, had Hanyecz saved his crypto as an alternative of ordering these two pizzas, he may have purchased almost two-thirds of the corporate that baked his pie right this moment.
Then, there’s the story of a author who, in 2017, helped a pal recuperate (on the time) $200,000 price of Bitcoin from a damaged laptop computer. These 40 Bitcoins caught in a MultiBit pockets for three-and-a-half years are price greater than $4 million right this moment (as long as the cryptocurrency stays above the $100,000 mark).