Has Bitcoin Pizza Day been overshadowed? Community archaeology: "Digital image for 500 BTC" earlier than Bitcoin Pizza Day
The crypto community on Twitter discussed a transaction from the early days of Bitcoin forum Bitcointalk offering "500BTC for a digital image file." This might have taken place even before Bitcoin Pizza Day, and Satoshi Nakamoto himself reportedly helped solve some technical issues at the time. Has all the Bitcoin Pizza Day celebrations over the years been in vain?
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Bitcoin Pizza Day Origin
Bitcoin Pizza Day traces back to May 22, 2010, when the first real-world transaction with Bitcoin took place. An American engineer, Laszlo Hanyecz, exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for 2 large pizzas.
Aside from marking what could be the first actual use of Bitcoin for payment, given the exponential rise in Bitcoin's price, this act of Laszlo's is still a topic of conversation in the crypto community due to the significant loss he incurred.
On May 18, Laszlo Hanyecz posted on the Bitcointalk forum:
I'll pay 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas, like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day. I like having leftover pizza to nibble on later. You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I'm aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don't have to order or prepare it myself, kind of like ordering a 'breakfast platter' at a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you're happy!
Bitcoin Pizza Day Engineer: No Regrets
In an interview in 2019, Laszlo Hanyecz mentioned that he simply wanted to facilitate a transaction using an open-source internet currency, and he later tried many other transactions, estimating that he spent over 100,000 BTC on various items.
He also emphasized that he has no regrets.
Not the First Bitcoin Transaction?
Prior to the NFT project "Taproot Wizards" on Bitcoin, which led to Block 774628 setting the record for the largest block in Bitcoin's history, founder and independent developer Udi Wertheimer tweeted that the Bitcoin pizza transaction might not have been the first, sparking discussions.
According to a post and screenshot on Bitcointalk dated January 24, 2010, user Sabunir attempted to sell a digital image for approximately $1 worth of 500 BTC:
I decided to try using bitcoins. As a test, I wanted to see if I could make $1 by selling a picture. A bitcoin is about $1 after PayPal fees, right? If you want the picture, send coins to my address and PM me the time you sent the coins. I will send you a link to the picture. This is a picture I made myself, resolution 1280ร960, good for a desktop background.
This Twitter Space was FIRE
We discovered that:
๐ฅ the first purchase EVER with bitcoin was buying a JPEG for 500 BTC in Feb 2010
๐ฅ it pre-dates the the famous 10,000 BTC pizza
๐ฅ satoshi himself helped facilitate the JPEG sale
๐ฅ laser-eye cult in absolute SHAMBLES pic.twitter.com/b6ESOkbf0i
โ Udi Wertheimer ๐งโโ๏ธ (@udiWertheimer) May 14, 2023
Satoshi Nakamoto's Involvement
Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, even left a comment below the post by Sabunir, suggesting improvements. Sabunir originally wanted to complete transactions directly on-chain with additional messages and images, but Bitcoin faced technical limitations at the time, such as no message encryption and small block sizes.
Crypto Community: Image Not Sold, Bitcoin Pizza Day Still First
Trader and professional poker player Mike McDonald pointed out that although Sabunir did indeed receive 500 BTC later, it was likely a donation.
In a tweet, he shared a screenshot of Sabunir thanking two donors on February 25, indicating that the image may have never been sold.
I'm not sure if it has been dispelled yet but it seems like Sabunir's 500 btc was a donation rather than sale.
He posted his address for his NFT Jan 24, then posted it again in the btc logo thread on Feb 24. Feb 24 500 btc was sent, Feb 25 he thanks 2 people for donations 1/2 pic.twitter.com/6Rk9Ont9KU
โ Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) May 14, 2023
Some in the community pointed out that Sabunir received Bitcoin before requesting donations, suggesting the image might have been sold successfully:
February 24, 02:03: Received 100 BTC
February 24, 05:10: Requested donations on the forum
Note: Sabunir later made the image link public for free use but also posted an address for tips.
However, without confirmation from Sabunir himself, it's difficult to ascertain if the digital image was actually exchanged for BTC. If the image transaction did precede Bitcoin Pizza Day, it would resonate with the recent popularity of NFT protocol "Ordinals," but it would also diminish some of Bitcoin Pizza Day's mystique.