Bitcoin Pizza Day with Fractal: Serving Up A Slice of History
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day?
Bitcoin Pizza Day marks one of the most iconic – and deliciously strange – milestones in web3 history. On May 22, 2010, a developer named Laszlo Hanyecz made the first-ever Bitcoin transaction: he bought two large pizzas for 10,000 BTC.
At the time, that amount was worth around $41 USD. Today, those same bitcoins would be worth over over $1.06 billion USD – making them quite possibly the most expensive pizzas ever purchased.
The History Behind Bitcoin Pizza Day
In 2010, Bitcoin was still in its early days – gradually gaining traction among developers, miners, and curious experimenters. Laszlo, an early Bitcoin contributor and miner, posted on the Bitcointalk forum offering to pay 10,000 BTC for anyone who would deliver him pizza. A fellow forum member took him up on the offer, ordering two Papa John’s pizzas and delivering them to Laszlo’s home in Florida.
This casual transaction became a historic proof-of-concept: Bitcoin could be used to buy real-world goods. It also marked the birth of a new financial paradigm where peer-to-peer value exchange was no longer theoretical – it was tangible, cheesy, and delivered hot. It was an early but powerful signal that Bitcoin could move beyond speculation – serving as real infrastructure for value exchange between individuals and, ultimately, institutions.
The Significance of Pizza Day
Bitcoin Pizza Day is more than just a quirky footnote in Bitcoin or Web3 lore – it’s a celebration of progress. Each year, the community revisits this moment to reflect on how far Bitcoin and the broader blockchain ecosystem have come. It’s a reminder that every revolutionary movement starts with small, human and vibey moments – like a hungry developer and two pizzas.
Today, Pizza Day has evolved into a cultural event, with Bitcoiners around the world gathering to share pizza, memes, and mining stats. Projects also join in the fun with giveaways, events, and limited-edition collectible drops.
The Role of Bitcoin Mining in that Moment
What made that pizza purchase even possible in 2010 was Bitcoin mining. Laszlo himself was a miner – he earned his BTC not by buying them on an exchange (there really weren’t any yet), but by contributing computing power to the network. He helped secure Bitcoin through Proof of Work (PoW) and was rewarded with coins.
In this way, Pizza Day also highlights the foundational role of mining in bootstrapping the Bitcoin economy. Without miners like Laszlo running the network, Bitcoin wouldn't have had the security or decentralization to survive – let alone power the purchase of a pepperoni pie.
From 10,000 BTC Pizzas to Scalable Bitcoin Layers
Since that legendary day, Bitcoin has evolved from an underground experiment to a global asset class. But challenges remain – chief among them, scalability. That’s where projects like Fractal Bitcoin come in.
Fractal is a Bitcoin-native infrastructure layer that leverages Cadence Mining (a hybrid of merged mining and permissionless mining) to scale Bitcoin while staying true to its Proof of Work roots. It’s built to support meta protocols like BRC-20, Runes, and Ordinals, all while maintaining compatibility with Bitcoin Core.
In a sense, Fractal represents the next generation of what Laszlo started: unlocking Bitcoin’s potential to support real-world applications – not just pizza, but programmable assets, DeFi, NFTs, and more.
How Fractal Celebrated Pizza Day 2025
To bring things full (pizza) circle, the Fractal community hosted its own Pizza Day Challenge – a fun virtual event where the community filmed themselves eating as much pizza as possible in 60 seconds. Learn more, and join the community here.
🍕 "The only thing better than stacking sats is stacking slices."
Whether you’re a miner, a builder, or just a bitcoin enthusiast with a craving, Bitcoin Pizza Day is a reminder of how far we've come – and how much fun we can have along the way. In true Fractal style and vibes.
Want to learn more?
Explore Fractal’s Learn hub for deep dives into mining, BRC-20 tokens, and more Bitcoin-native innovation.
