Bitcoin Pizza Day Is Back to Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the First Cryptocurrency Purchase

Fifteen years ago, a programmer unknowingly made history when he traded 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas—marking the first documented purchase using cryptocurrency.

In 2008, the world was introduced to Bitcoin, a revolutionary new cryptocurrency that promised to change the way we think about money. At the time, few people outside of the technical community paid attention to the new technology.

But in 2010, as Bitcoin began to gain in popularity, one programmer named “Jed McCaleb” made a small piece of history when he used 10,000 bitcoins to buy two pizzas from a local restaurant.

As reported by Bitcoin Magazine, McCaleb had been following the development of Bitcoin for a few years and was impressed by the technology. He had also been interested in the possibilities of decentralized currencies for some time.

When he learned that he could use bitcoins to purchase goods and services, he decided to try it out for himself. He contacted a few local restaurants and asked if they accepted bitcoins.

One restaurant, a small pizzeria in the town of Wilton, Connecticut, agreed to accept McCaleb’s bitcoins. He ordered two pizzas and had them delivered to his apartment.

The total cost of the pizzas was $41, which at the time had a bitcoin value of around 0.003 bitcoin.

Today, however, that same pizza order would come out to over $1.1 billion in 2025.

After making the trade, McCaleb posted about it on a Bitcoin forum, making it the first documented instance of someone using bitcoins for a purchase other than small amounts with other members of the online community.

Other members of the forum were amused by McCaleb’s story and began to discuss it at length. Soon, people outside of the forum also began to learn about the tale of the programmer who had used bitcoins to buy pizzas.

From there, the story quickly took on a life of its own. People began to celebrate May 22 as Bitcoin Pizza Day, in honor of the day that McCaleb made his fateful trade.

Major cryptocurrency exchanges also took the opportunity to launch a variety of events and promotions to mark the occasion.

Binance kicked things off with a $5 million Bitcoin referral campaign, offering users up to $40 in crypto for each successful referral. The exchange also deployed branded pizza trucks that would be driving around major cities in the United States and Canada.

Furthermore, Binance assembled community parties for the local crypto enthusiasts in dozens of cities across both North America and Europe.

Other platforms followed suit with a variety of initiatives. BTSE launched a $5.22 million USDT trading contest and announced a 5.22% BTC staking yield. Meanwhile, HTX, which is backed by TRON partners, unveiled a $200,000 prize campaign for its users.

MEXC went a step further by hosting a spin-to-win game on its official website, offering up over $100,000 in cryptocurrency to users who participated in the festivities.

Finally, across the world, communities came together to organize their own DIY events, livestreams, and bundles of crypto giveaways, all of which were coordinated through a dedicated Pizza Day hub.

While some members of the crypto community questioned the effectiveness of these mass promotions, arguing that they often served to attract short-term signups rather than long-term users, the event’s symbolic weight was undeniable.

From a small meal to a billion-dollar legend, Bitcoin Pizza Day is a testament to the spirit of cryptocurrency: bold, unconventional, and full of surprises.