Sixteen years in the past right this moment, a Florida programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoin for 2 massive Papa John’s pizzas. On the time, these cash have been value roughly $41. On this Pizza Day, they’re value $777.87 million — down $328 million from final yr’s anniversary worth.
Bitcoin Pizza Day, noticed every Might 22, marks the primary industrial transaction utilizing Bitcoin — the second a digital forex stopped being a theoretical experiment and have become a medium of trade for actual items.
On Might 18, 2010, Hanyecz posted on the BitcoinTalk discussion board with a simple supply: 10,000 BTC to anybody keen to order him two pizzas. Some discussion board customers have been skeptical — one identified he may promote the cash for $41 in money.
Hanyecz’s reply was easy: “I simply assume it will be fascinating if I may say that I paid for a pizza in Bitcoins”. 4 days later, a then-19-year-old discussion board person named Jeremy Sturdivant accepted, ordered the pies from Papa John’s, and picked up 10,000 BTC through guide switch. Bitcoin had its first trade price towards a shopper good.
The $328 million bitcoin haircut
Each Might 22, that mounted 10,000 BTC will get revalued on the day’s spot worth — the cleanest annual benchmark crypto has. In 2024, the stack was value $674 million. In 2025, it hit a report $1.106 billion, with Bitcoin buying and selling at $110,568 on that day’s all-time excessive. At this time, with Bitcoin close to $77,300, the stack sits at $777.87 million — down 29.7% from final yr.
The decline started on October 6, 2025, when Bitcoin reached a recent all-time excessive of $126,000. 4 days later, President Donald Trump introduced 100% tariffs on Chinese language imports and export controls on vital U.S. software program.
Inside hours, whole crypto market capitalization fell almost $200 billion in a single session, Bitcoin dropped from $122,000 to $107,000, and roughly $19 billion in leveraged positions have been liquidated — the biggest single-day liquidation occasion in crypto historical past.
The worst begin since 2018
Q1 2026 turned Bitcoin’s third-worst opening quarter on report, closing down 23.2%, with spot Bitcoin ETFs bleeding $4.5 billion in outflows throughout the primary eight weeks of the yr. Iran tensions compounded the stress, as U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on February 28 triggered a pointy risk-off rotation, trapping Bitcoin between $60,000 and $75,000 for a lot of March.
Q2 has introduced partial restoration — Bitcoin has climbed roughly 14% over the quarter — however the broader crypto market cap sits at $2.65 trillion right this moment, down from $2.9 trillion only one week in the past.
