A Thread 🧵 

MAY 22 of every year is a poignant moment in the crypto space, it is known as Bitcoin Pizza Day. A summary for those who don't know, it's called Bitcoin pizza day because Laszlo used 10,000 BTC's to order for two PIZZAS 🍕. It's funny right?

But do you know that Laszlo was a significant early contributor to Bitcoin’s development?

He wrote the first MacOS client for Bitcoin, making it accessible to Apple users, and pioneered GPU mining, exponentially increasing Bitcoin’s hash rate by using graphics cards instead of CPUs.

Laszlo Hanyecz, known as the "Bitcoin Pizza Guy," made history on May 22, 2010, by spending 10,000 BTC to buy two Papa John’s pizzas, marking the first documented real-world Bitcoin transaction. 

But beyond the 10,000 bitcoin, most persons don't know that there is more to Laszlo than just 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza.

Let's Look at them below.

He Spent Way More Than 10,000 BTC on Pizza:

That pizza wasn’t a one-time thing.

 In total, Hanyecz spent around 100,000 bitcoins in 2010 on food and other items. 

That would be worth billions today. He kept offering to trade 10,000 BTC for pizza until mining became harder. 

Back then, he saw Bitcoin as a way to actually buy things, not something to hold onto and hope it increases in value. 

That mindset fit with what Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, originally wanted a digital currency people use. 

But now that most people prefer to “HODL”, some criticize him for spending instead of saving.

Satoshi Nakamoto Cautioned Him About GPU Mining:

When Hanyecz started using GPUs to mine Bitcoin, it made mining much faster, but it also worried Satoshi. 

In private messages, Satoshi warned that GPU mining could make the network unfair for regular users who didn’t have special hardware.

 Satoshi even had his own secret GPU mining software but asked Hanyecz not to promote GPU mining too quickly.

 This may be part of why Laszlo spent his bitcoins to help Bitcoin be used in real life instead of just being mined and stored.

He Doesn’t Regret Spending the Bitcoin:

Even though those bitcoins are worth a fortune now, Laszlo has said many times he doesn’t regret it.

 At the time, Bitcoin was new, worth less than a penny, and its price often dropped to zero. 

His goal wasn’t to get rich, it was to prove Bitcoin could work as money.

 He believes that focusing only on the current price misses the point of what Bitcoin was created for.

He Didn’t Buy the Pizza from Papa John’s Directly:

Laszlo didn’t pay Papa John’s with Bitcoin.

 Instead, he sent 10,000 BTC to a teenager named Jeremy Sturdivant, who then paid for the pizzas with regular money and had them delivered to Hanyecz.

 This shows how Bitcoin was used in its early days as a way to trade directly with other people, not big companies. 

Jeremy also later sold the bitcoins for just a few hundred dollars, not knowing what they’d be worth later.

The Bitcoin Community Has Treated Him Unfairly:

The bitcoin community hasn’t given Laszlo enough credit.

 His pizza purchase is often turned into a joke, while his real contributions to Bitcoin’s growth are overlooked. 

 By using it to buy something real, he proved it could work outside of online forums. 

If people like him had not used Bitcoin early on, it might have just faded away. 

The focus on “HODLing” makes people think spending Bitcoin was a mistake, even though early users like Laszlo helped build its real-world use by actually spending it.

Instead of being remembered as a pioneer, he’s often the punchline of “the world’s most expensive pizza” joke.

He is likely Not Broke:

Many media stories make it seem like Laszlo is just a regular guy who missed out on billions, but that’s probably not true. 

Since he helped create GPU mining, he likely mined a lot more than the 100,000 BTC he spent. 

With his skills, it’s also likely he’s done well in the tech or crypto industry. 

He’s kept a low profile, but he probably isn’t broke.

He Tested the Lightning Network Years Later by buying pizza again:

In 2018, Laszlo bought pizza again but this time using the Lightning Network, a newer system that makes Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper. 

This showed he still cares about helping Bitcoin grow and become easier to use, even though this event didn’t get as much attention as the original pizza story.

He’s Teaching His Kids About Bitcoin.

Laszlo has said he’s teaching his children, Liam and Amy, about Bitcoin. 

He gave them small amounts on paper wallets and showed them how to track the price. 

This shows he still believes in Bitcoin and wants to pass that interest on to the next generation not just for money, but as a technology.

After reading the above, it's safe to say Laszlo Hanyecz wasn’t just a guy who bought pizza with Bitcoin.

 He helped shape Bitcoin’s future through his coding, mining innovations, and real-world use of the currency. 

His story shows the tension between using Bitcoin as money and treating it as an investment and how early contributors like him don’t always get the recognition they deserve.

Now that you know, educate someone else by liking, commenting on this thread!