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 practically 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, after all 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 perhaps 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 advised The New York Occasions in 2013 that he had no regrets concerning the then-$6 million pizza order. “It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any worth again then, so the concept of buying and selling them for a pizza was extremely cool,” he stated. “Nobody knew it was going to get so large.”
I’m wondering 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 manner, 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 might have purchased practically two-thirds of the corporate that baked his pie at the moment.
Then, there’s the story of a author who, in 2017, helped a good friend get well (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 at the moment (as long as the cryptocurrency stays above the $100,000 mark).