Bitcoin Pizza Day 2024: Celebrating 14 Years of Milestones

2024/05/22 04:23:23

On May 22, 2024, we commemorate the 14th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, a monumental event that marked the first-ever transaction using Bitcoin. On the 22nd of May, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, an early Bitcoin adopter, completed the first documented purchase using Bitcoin by acquiring two pizzas from Papa John's for 10,000 BTC. At the time, the value of the bitcoins exchanged for the pizzas was approximately $30, implying that each Bitcoin was worth roughly $0.003. Given 1 BTC trades above $70,000 as of Bitcoin Pizza Day 2024, this would be worth over $700 million today.

Bitcoin Pizza Day is an important day for all crypto enthusiasts worldwide. This significant day marks a time to remember and celebrate the years that have seen Bitcoin adoption grow by leaps and bounds and the crypto market’s worth soar to an all-time high past $3 trillion. But this is just one of many milestones in Bitcoin's roadmap over the past 14 years. Since the creation of the blockchain, Bitcoin has transformed how we think about money and the possibilities of technology.

We at KuCoin plan to celebrate the spirit of Bitcoin Pizza Day 2024 by looking back at all the significant milestones in Bitcoin’s history since May 22, 2010. Who’s up for a rollercoaster ride down memory lane with us?

What Is Bitcoin Pizza Day?

Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned his creation as an alternative digital currency that could replace traditional, centralized fiat currency when he authored the Bitcoin whitepaper and mined the first-ever BTC in January 2009. But it wasn’t until more than a year later that his vision was realized for the first time.

On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz, a pioneer in the Bitcoin community, used 10,000 BTC to buy two Papa John’s pizzas. This was the first-ever officially recorded real-world transaction made using BTC as a payment method. Hanyecz posted on the Bitcointalk.org forum that he would give 10,000 BTC to any user who could sell him two pizzas. The offer was promptly taken up by a teenager, Jeremy Sturdivant, who bought the pizzas from Papa John’s and delivered them to Hanyecz, receiving 10,000 BTC for this order. Considering he sold 10,000 BTC for two pizzas that cost around $30, we could estimate the BTC price to be around 0.03 cents in May.

Referred to as the “Bitcoin Pizza Transaction,” it is regarded as the moment when Bitcoin Pizza Day was born and Bitcoin first demonstrated its real medium of exchange value. Bitcoin Pizza Day holds a special place in the history of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. It represents the early days of the original crypto, well before most of the mainstream world was even aware of it or took it seriously.

For crypto lovers, Laszlo's purchase spearheaded real-world value and utility for Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, even for everyday goods. It highlighted the potential of cryptocurrencies to revolutionize traditional financial systems. Since then, the worldwide crypto community has celebrated this occasion to remember how far Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have come. The event underscores the importance of adoption and how individual transactions can impact the perception and development of new technology.

Bitcoin’s Value: A Look Back at All the Ups and Downs

How Bitcoin’s price has changed over the years on BTC pizza day

Since the day Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC to buy two pizzas, Bitcoin has gone through many bull and bear cycles, with its value surging to an all-time high above $73,000 by March 2024. This date is also a way to celebrate the HODLers in the crypto community, reminding users of the long-term potential for growth in the value of crypto assets, especially the crypto king Bitcoin. Here’s an overview of the most memorable moments in Bitcoin’s history since the first Bitcoin Pizza Transaction 14 years ago:

2010-2013: WikiLeaks, BitPay, Mt. Gox Hacks, and First Bitcoin Halving

From $0.09 to Over $1,000

At the time when Laszlo Hanyecz traded in his Bitcoins for pizza, BTC had almost no worth.

However, his actions spurred greater interest in the original cryptocurrency, helping its price surge to $0.09 by July 2010. In a few short months, the BTC price breached the all-important $1 mark in February 2011.

2011 is looked upon by many Bitcoin lovers as the year crypto adoption truly took off. This year, WikiLeaks announced that it would start accepting donations in BTC after other payment methods were blocked. In May 2011, Bitcoin payment processor BitPay was founded, offering businesses mobile checkout services so they could start accepting payments in Bitcoins.

However, the crypto exchange Mt. Gox suffered its first hack in 2011, losing 2,000 BTC valued at $30,000 at the time. Investors, however, paid no heed to the hack, taking Bitcoin’s market cap past $1 billion for the first time.

The first-ever Bitcoin halving also occurred during this timeframe, on November 28, 2012. While the event had no immediate impact on the market, by early 2013, it helped Bitcoin’s value climb steadily.

The year 2013 saw the first Bitcoin ATM installed in Vancouver, Canada. This event occurred in October, making BTC more accessible to the general public. However, 2013 was a bad year for Bitcoin lovers as Mt. Gox suffered a second, more severe hack, ultimately resulting in its collapse. This brought on a two-year bear market for Bitcoin, keeping its price under pressure.

2014-2017: Bitcoin Price Touches $20,000, Second Bitcoin Halving, and BCH Fork

Slide Down to $100 and Then Surge to $20,000

Bitcoin’s next bull run resumed in 2016, and by late 2017, it was trading close to the $20,000 level. This price rally captured mainstream attention and sparked global interest in cryptocurrencies.

In October 2015, Bitcoin’s value started rising again as the next halving date neared. The second Bitcoin halving occurred on July 9, 2016, although the value of BTC had started surging by May of the year.

However, the rising adoption brought scalability challenges, causing the Bitcoin blockchain to be forked to create Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in 2017. The enthusiasm this time was short-lived as BTC turned around and headed into another bear period in the same year.

2018-2020: ICO Bubble, Bitcoin Adoption Rises Among Institutional Investors

From Around $3,000 to Nearly $30,000

By 2018, the BTC price fell to a low of $3,250. Things started looking up for Bitcoin investors after this dip as the ICO bubble started to take over the crypto market. As more crypto projects launched via ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), the demand for BTC started rising, helping support the price of Bitcoin in the market through 2017-18.

By the time of the third Bitcoin halving on May 11, 2020, when the block reward fell from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC, Bitcoin was riding a bull wave. Rising interest in Bitcoin and altcoins among institutional investors and the COVID-19 crisis further helped cement Bitcoin’s position as a store of value and a hedge against inflation.

Renowned companies, such as Tesla and MicroStrategy, made substantial Bitcoin purchases, further validating its status as a legitimate asset class. Major payment processors, including PayPal, also started facilitating Bitcoin transactions, contributing to its widespread acceptance.

2021: Crypto Bull Run, Bitcoin ETF, Lightning Network, and Taproot Upgrade

Crossing $69,000

By Q1 2021, the demand for Bitcoin increased among retail and institutional investors. In a significant development for institutional adoption, Wall Street saw the launch of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) in 2021. This ETF, which tracks the performance of Bitcoin futures contracts, marked a milestone for Bitcoin gaining recognition as an investment vehicle.

Bitcoin gained traction among institutional investors during this period. The $5.5 billion Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) became the first U.S. pension fund to invest in Bitcoin and Ether, signaling growing institutional confidence in cryptocurrencies.

Walmart, one of the largest retail chains, enabled customers to convert their loose change into Bitcoin, challenging the perception of Bitcoin's worthlessness. This move increased accessibility and awareness of Bitcoin among a broader audience.

Bitcoin Lightning Network Implementation

As the Bitcoin network has grown, there have been continuous advancements in the underlying technology. These improvements have made the network more secure, scalable, and efficient. One such significant development was the implementation of the Lightning Network, which has helped to increase the transaction speed and reduce transaction fees, making Bitcoin more suitable for everyday use.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a Bitcoin layer-2 scaling solution that addresses Bitcoin's scalability limitations. It enables fast and inexpensive transactions by establishing off-chain payment channels between users. The Lightning Network promotes scalability, near-instant transactions, and increased privacy.

Taproot Upgrade

The Taproot Upgrade, a soft fork of the Bitcoin network, was activated in November 2021. Taproot further enhanced transaction privacy, efficiency, and flexibility while improving the scripting capabilities of smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain.

This upgrade introduced a new scheme called Schnorr signatures, allowing for more compact transaction sizes and increased privacy. It also enabled the implementation of more complex smart contracts with improved efficiency and lower transaction fees.

2022: High Inflation Fears and Crypto Winter Bear Down on BTC Price

Dropping to $15,000

The year 2021 effectively ended one of the biggest bull runs in Bitcoin’s price. The Bitcoin price touched an all-time high of around $69,000 in November 2021. In addition, Bitcoin saw two key technical developments rolled out: the Lightning Network and the Taproot Upgrade.

However, 2022 was a more subdued year from the perspective of Bitcoin’s price performance. Despite technical strengths such as maintaining 100% uptime and growth of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network throughout the year, Bitcoin lost almost 65% of its market value during this year. The fear of rising inflation in global financial markets and the crypto winter caused by the Terra LUNA and UST crash, the collapse of DeFi biggies like Celsius Network and Voyager, and the FTX fiasco were critical drivers of this bearish cycle.

2023: Market Sentiment Recovers, Bitcoin Ordinals, and BRC-20 Tokens Gain Attention

Rebounding to Over $64,000

From market sentiment and technical perspectives, 2023 began on a more optimistic note for Bitcoin. As fears of hyperinflation faded from global financial markets, the crypto market increased buying activity, helping the Bitcoin price rise to as high as $30,000 in the initial months of the year.

Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 Tokens

A new project on the Bitcoin network called Ordinals was launched in January 2023. Bitcoin Ordinals enable the creation of Bitcoin-native on-chain non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Led by former Bitcoin Core contributor Casey Rodarmor, the Ordinals protocol allows for numbering and transferring individual satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin) on the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin BRC-20 tokens are an experimental token standard that relies on the Ordinals protocol, similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard. BRC-20 tokens use ordinal inscriptions, up to 4MB in size, layered on top of the Bitcoin blockchain.

The Ordinals-powered BRC-20 tokens gained significant attention in May 2023 when an explosion of BRC-20 tokens was created on the Bitcoin network. This surge in activity temporarily brought down the Bitcoin blockchain during the weekend of May 6, 2023. The number of unconfirmed transactions surged to a record high on the Bitcoin network during this period, while transaction fees spiked to as high as $120, owing to BRC-20 tokens’ trading activity. By May 2024, more than 24,000 BRC-20 tokens existed on the Bitcoin network, with a market capitalization of over $468 million.

ARC-20 Tokens

ARC-20 tokens, also known as Atomicals, emerged as another innovation, focusing on standardizing data storage on the Bitcoin blockchain. These tokens use a proof-of-work mechanism, requiring users to perform computational tasks to mint tokens, thereby ensuring rarity and adding a new layer of functionality to Bitcoin.

Growth of Bitcoin Layer-2 Ecosystem

The Bitcoin Layer-2 ecosystem also saw significant growth in 2023 and 2024. The Lightning Network, Bitcoin's primary Layer-2 solution, continued to expand, making transactions faster and cheaper. Projects like Stacks (STX) and Rootstock Infrastructure Framework (RIF), aimed to further enhance the scalability and usability of Bitcoin.

2024: Bitcoin Spot ETF Approval by SEC, 4th Bitcoin Halving

New ATH Above $73,000 by March

After the 2021 bull run in the crypto market, Bitcoin touched a new all-time high of $73,750.07 on 14 March 2024, well before the fourth Bitcoin halving, sending a wave of cheer among crypto investors worldwide. Here’s a look at what’s brought on such strong optimism toward the leading cryptocurrency so far this year:

Spot Bitcoin ETF Approvals

A major milestone for Bitcoin in 2024 was the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs by regulatory authorities. In January 2024, the SEC announced a landmark decision, approving spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US market. This was followed by Hong Kong’s approval of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in May 2024. Bitcoin ETFs offer investors a regulated and simpler way to invest in Bitcoin, attracting more investors to the king of crypto and helping reduce Bitcoin’s price volatility.

To date, the total global market cap of all Bitcoin ETFs worldwide exceeds $75 billion. To put things in perspective, the total value locked (TVL) in the DeFi market stands at just under $95 billion.

Bitcoin Halving 2024

Looking forward, the most recent Bitcoin halving event in April 2024 reduced the block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, increasing Bitcoin's scarcity and potentially driving up its price. Analysts predict this halving could trigger a significant rally, with some forecasts suggesting Bitcoin could reach $100,000.

Learn more about the fourth Bitcoin halving.

Runes Protocol

The Runes Protocol, which uses Bitcoin's UTXO model and the OP_RETURN opcode, aims to simplify fungible token creation on the Bitcoin blockchain. This protocol mitigates the network congestion issues caused by BRC-20 tokens and leverages Bitcoin’s inherent capabilities for on-chain data storage.

Bitcoin Restaking and DeFi Growth

Bitcoin’s integration into the DeFi ecosystem continued to grow in early 2024. DeFi platforms enabled users to lend, borrow, and earn interest on their BTC, increasing Bitcoin's utility and adoption. This trend, coupled with advancements in Layer-2 solutions and token standards, solidified Bitcoin's position in the evolving digital economy.

Bitcoin restaking via BounceBit emerged as a new trend in 2024, allowing Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC to earn additional rewards. This development, along with the growth of Bitcoin DeFi projects, expanded the use cases for Bitcoin beyond just a store of value. Bitcoin DeFi platforms enabled users to lend, borrow, and earn interest on their BTC, increasing the utility and adoption of Bitcoin in the decentralized finance ecosystem.

Learn more about Bitcoin restaking on BounceBit.

These milestones illustrate Bitcoin’s continuous evolution and its expanding role in the broader financial ecosystem. As new technologies and regulatory frameworks develop, Bitcoin remains at the forefront of innovation in the cryptocurrency market.

How to Celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day With KuCoin

If you are a crypto lover like us, here are some ways to commemorate this special day and revel in its spirit:

Buy and HODL Bitcoin on KuCoin

You can buy Bitcoin on KuCoin Fast Trade and the P2P market, where you can purchase Bitcoin with your local currency quickly and securely. Additionally, you can obtain Bitcoin with USDT or other base cryptocurrencies on the KuCoin spot market, which offers a diverse range of BTC trading pairs. Moreover, KuCoin provides various trading tools, such as recurring buy and DCA bot, to help you average your costs and enhance your Bitcoin buying journey.

Go Long or Short on KuCoin Futures Trading

Celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day by trading Bitcoin futures on KuCoin. You can go long if you believe the price will rise, or short if you think it will fall. Futures trading allows you to maximize your potential profits by leveraging your positions, but remember that it also increases the risk.

Automate BTC Trading with KuCoin Trading Bots

Use KuCoin Trading Bots to automate your Bitcoin trading strategy. These bots can help you execute trades based on predefined parameters, optimizing your trading efficiency and saving you time. Whether you’re looking to execute grid trading, dollar-cost averaging, or other strategies, KuCoin’s trading bots offer a powerful tool to enhance your trading experience in both bearish and bullish market conditions.

Earn Bitcoin Passive Income with KuCoin Earn

Put your Bitcoin to work and earn passive income with KuCoin Earn. By staking your BTC or participating in lending programs, you can earn lucrative returns and grow your crypto portfolio securely. This is a great way to make your holdings productive and benefit from additional income streams.

By engaging in these activities, you can celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day while making strategic moves to grow and manage your Bitcoin investments on KuCoin. Happy trading and HODLing!

Conclusion

Bitcoin Pizza Day commemorates the remarkable journey of the world's leading cryptocurrency. In the 14 years since the first real-world Bitcoin transaction, BTC has evolved into a worldwide sensation, with countless users across the globe utilizing it for various applications. Bitcoin's future prospects are promising, with continuous advancements and breakthroughs occurring daily in the crypto market. Celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day allows us to reflect on the extraordinary journey Bitcoin has embarked on thus far and eagerly anticipate the exciting developments.