16 years ago today, a programmer bought two pizzas from Papa John’s for 10,000 BTC; now, according to current prices, that is no longer just dough and cheese, but an asset scale akin to a small sovereign fund.
When it comes to May 22 each year, players in the crypto world typically have two reactions: one is to silently open a box of pizza; the other is to face the Bitcoin price on the screen, feel a sharp pain in their hearts, and then fall into a loop of "if only I had bought it back then."
On May 22, 2026, this day arrives again. Looking back over Bitcoin's price growth over the past 15 years, the glaring contrast is as mentioned earlier: the purchasing power of Bitcoin, which was worth only $25 back then, could now buy a publicly listed fintech company at its peak in recent years. One could confidently say that this might be the best story of "geek romance, collective heartache, and wealth fairytale" in modern financial history.
Jokes aside, what is Bitcoin Pizza Day? Why does the community commemorate this event every year with such pomp? What significant and magical events related to Pizza Day have shocked the entire industry over the years? Why do top platforms like OKX want to launch a "2026 Agent Pizza Day" at this juncture? Don't rush, buckle up, and let’s unfold it one by one, starting from the primitive, rugged years of cryptocurrency.
1. "I want to trade 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas" — An unexpected legend from a forum post
The story starts in 2010.
That year, Bitcoin was just over a year old. Satoshi Nakamoto had just planted the seed, and there were only a few hundred geeks participating globally. What is Bitcoin? Most people couldn’t figure it out. It had no exchanges, no price, no purchasing power in the real world — to most, it was just an irrelevant digital badge.
A programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz lived in Florida. Like other geeks in the field, he mined some Bitcoins daily using a regular computer's graphics card. He was also a true driving force in the early technical development of Bitcoin: he was the first programmer to create a MacOS Bitcoin client and discovered in early May 2010 that graphics cards (GPUs) could greatly enhance mining efficiency. This discovery directly led to a 130,000-fold increase in mining power by the end of the year, laying the technical foundation for industrial-scale mining.
On May 18, 2010, Laszlo posted on the BitcoinTalk forum, the original text was roughly: "I will pay 10,000 Bitcoins for two large pizzas... preferably with some left over for the next day. I like toppings like onions, sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes. You can make them yourself or order from a shop, just deliver them to my house." After posting it, he received no replies for several days.
Finally, on May 22, a 19-year-old guy from California named Jeremy Sturdivant took up the bounty. He paid $25 out of his own pocket, ordered two pizzas from Papa John’s, and had them delivered to Laszlo's doorstep. After taking a bite of the pizza, Laszlo transferred 10,000 Bitcoins to Jeremy.
This transaction completed the first real-world physical payment in crypto history. At that time, 10,000 BTC was worth about $41, or less than half a cent each.
2. Why did Pizza Day become the "collective spiritual home" of the crypto circle?
If it was just two pizzas, it would have been merely a sidebar news story. But why does it get commemorated by the entire industry every year? The answer lies in three points.
First, it proved for the first time that "Bitcoin can actually buy something." Before this, Bitcoin was just code and a digital toy in forums. After the pizza transaction, everyone saw for the first time that you could pull out Bitcoin and buy a pizza delivered by someone else — though many onlookers jokingly wondered "isn't this silly?" In reality, it technically validated Bitcoin's feasibility as a payment tool.
Second, it objectively anchored Bitcoin's first real price. After the pizza transaction, one Bitcoin was equivalent to a market reference price of $0.0041, becoming the most primitive benchmark for subsequent exchange pricing.
Third, it was a "value enlightenment." No one in 2010 understood the grand narrative of "decentralized currency." But the pizza transaction made everyone realize: value can be accepted and exchanged between parties, without banks or permission. It transformed Bitcoin from an ethereal technical concept into a true "circulating commodity."
For this reason, the Bitcoin community has spontaneously initiated commemorative activities every year on May 22. No matter how high the price soared or how low it plummeted later, everyone bites into a slice of pizza on this day, looking back at the starting point of that original experiment. In some ways, Pizza Day is the "coming-of-age ceremony" and "collective identity validation" of the crypto world.
3. The magical price curve of Pizza Day over the years (from tens of dollars to hundreds of millions)
If it were just sentiment, crying every year would suffice. But what’s most heart-wrenching about Pizza Day is witnessing the market value of 10,000 BTC soar — from an insignificant number years ago to today's astronomical figures of several hundred million.
According to historical Bitcoin price data on May 22 each year, the following key points are shocking:
- 2010 (when the actual transaction occurred): about $0.003/each → 10,000 BTC ≈ $41
- 2011: the price rose to about $6.12/each → 10,000 worth about $60,000
- 2013: first surpassed $100, reaching $120/each → 10,000 worth $1.2 million
- 2017: Pizza Day surged to about $2,173/each → 10,000 worth $21.73 million
- 2021: about $37,536/each → 10,000 worth $375 million
- 2024: about $70,000/each → 10,000 worth $700 million
- 2025: Pizza Day reached around $110,000 → 10,000 worth $1.1 billion
- 2026 (around May 22): Bitcoin had long since reached higher positions, with 10,000 BTC corresponding to a value in the billions.
In terms of actual impact prices, 10,000 BTC ran from $41 to $1.1 billion, multiplying over 26.8 million times in about 15 years. Looking back at Laszlo's multiple attempts — based on the wallet address he posted on the Bitcointalk forum, he ultimately transferred out over 81,432 Bitcoins in that "pizza for Bitcoin" activity in 2010. At later prices, the total once approached the $10 billion level. This data pierces the heart of anyone it touches.
Interestingly, CoinGecko once posted a comparison during the 2024 Pizza Day: the price of Bitcoin on Pizza Day was 11,438 times that of 2011, demonstrating that this day inherently carries the function of "wealth reassessment." Many people ask a poignant question every year on this day: "If I had hoarded back then, would I still eat this meal?" The answer might be: no — because once it hit $1 million each, I would have probably sold long ago.
4. Major news from Pizza Day history: price fluctuations, collective mourning, platform wars
Holidays are holidays, but the crypto market is not calm around May 22 each year. Besides daily asset fluctuations, several iconic events have occurred in the history of Pizza Day.
2011 Pizza Day: Bitcoin price first broke the $10 barrier, staying in the $6–$7 range. Although it now seems so cheap, it marked the first time mainstream media outside the industry noticed that "this thing seems to be worth something." Later in June, the Mt. Gox black swan incident followed, causing Bitcoin to crash and the initial bull market to collapse after a whole year.
2018 Pizza Day: At that time, the entire industry was in a bear market. Bitcoin fell from nearly $20,000 to around $8,000. Old players in the crypto circle called "Pizza Day a nostalgia meal" — nibbling on pizza while comforting themselves, but the market sentiment actually grew cooler at lower levels.
2020 Pizza Day: The COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide, and there was a strong sense of financial panic. At that time, the Bitcoin price retreated to around $9,000. Many predicted that the crypto world would decline completely, but in the following six months, Bitcoin broke previous highs, showcasing one of the strongest rising cycles in history.
2021 Pizza Day and beyond: Significant fluctuations happened. In mid-May, Bitcoin quickly dropped from around $60,000 to $30,000, followed by a rebound on Pizza Day. The entire industry’s sentiment was close to breaking down, and withdrawal requests surged on exchanges.
2022 to 2024 Pizza Days: With the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the completion of the fourth halving, and Bitcoin's market cap exceeding $2 trillion, Pizza Day gradually transformed from a "heartache day" to a "faith consolidation day." Each May 22, there are comments on-chain and social media stating: "The pizza guy from back then was a fearless pioneer, and what we eat today is consensus."
Marketing wars among trading platforms: Pizza Day also became a grand stage for marketing battles among major platforms. Binance had its then-CEO CZ personally deliver pizzas at a pizza shop in Cannes, France, in 2022. In 2023, it covered 25 countries and delivered over 5,000 pizzas, extending from a pizza-making competition in Naples, Italy, to pop-up pizza trucks in multiple locations. Online users could also win a year's worth of pizza and Bitcoin rewards through social challenges. The activities continued into 2024, spanning over 20 countries across five continents. Other platforms also launched promotions such as "cash back for buying pizza with cryptocurrency" and "Pizza Day airdrops," effectively turning the anniversary into a collective marketing carnival for the industry.
5. From Pizza to Agent: OKX 2026 Agent Pizza Day debut!
Thus, Pizza Day is like two sides of a coin: one side is the exaggerated narrative of wealth transformation; the other side is a critical proof node in the history of real technology. Each year, new projects and platforms want to continue this narrative of "value from 0 to 1."
In 2026, it’s OKX’s turn to break the story.
OKX has chosen the day of the 2026 Pizza Day to launch OKX 2026 Agent Pizza Day. The reason for this timing signals a message from the official side: the truly feasible AI chain business behavior might be the current Web3 market's "Bitcoin pizza moment."
[Event Time] 2026/05/21 11:00:00 (UTC+8) to 2026/05/29 10:50:00 (UTC+8)
[Event One: Predict BTC Block Hash, Share Up to 2 BTC]
Trading more than 500 USDT qualifies for participation. The more people predict, the higher the total reward. Users who predict correctly will share the maximum of 2 BTC based on the number of participants.
[Prediction Content] After 2026/05/29 11:05:00 (UTC+8), what is the last digit of the first BTC block hash?
[Event Two: Collect Ingredients, Make Pizza, Share Up to 15.88 BTC, Win 1 BTC Lucky Hash]
Complete tasks to earn ingredients; collect five types to make "Crypto Pizza." Each person can make a maximum of two.
New user task: Complete the first trade and accumulate spot trading of more than 100 USDT to receive a 50 USDT trading experience bonus and 1 ingredient.
Spot trading task: Trade more than 6,000 USDT to receive 1 ingredient, with a maximum of 40 per person.
Contract trading task: Trade more than 10,000 USDT to receive 1 ingredient, with a maximum of 40 per person.
Invitation task: Invite friends to complete the new user task to receive 1 ingredient, with a maximum of 5 per person.
[Reward Rules]
Collecting five types of ingredients allows you to make "Crypto Pizza" on the event page. It won't be possible to make after the event ends.
Users will share the final reward (up to 15.88 BTC) based on the number of "Crypto Pizzas" made. Each pizza's reward = total unlocked reward / the total number of pizzas made by all users.
Each pizza has a unique 6-digit ID across the platform, and users holding pizzas will automatically participate in the "Hash Lucky" draw to share in a 1 BTC grand prize.
Excess ingredients can be gifted to friends. Each person can gift a maximum of 30, and receive a maximum of 5.
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Laszlo Hanyecz once said in an interview with CBS: "At that time, Bitcoin had no value, so the idea of trading it for a pizza was really funny. It made Bitcoin real."
On the other side, Jeremy, the 19-year-old buyer, later recalled that after receiving 10,000 Bitcoins, he quickly exchanged them for cash and spent most on travel and daily living. As of today, he only has Bitcoins worth a little over a hundred dollars left, but he doesn't regret it — because he became a part of that history, and who says that "youthful experiences" themselves are not worth something?
Whether you are a veteran who has been struggling in the crypto space for years or a newcomer just getting started, please do at least two things on May 22, 2026: take a bite of pizza (even if just a slice); think about why those 10,000 BTC could support today’s trillion-dollar market.
Pizza Day conveys more than just regret; it is about "the value of daring to take that first step." And this is precisely what OKX’s 2026 Agent Pizza Day wants everyone to remember. When Agents start doing business, the reasons for celebrating the next Pizza Day may need a whole new narrative.
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