That man, those two slices of pizza, and a one-way road
On May 18, 2010, in Florida, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz opened BitcoinTalk and typed a line that would later be engraved into crypto history:
“I’ll pay 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas.”
At that time, 1 BTC ≈ $0.004, 10,000 coins ≈ $40. He wanted two large pizzas, one with Italian sausage and green peppers, the other with mushrooms and olives. The post was up for four days, ignored by everyone.
On May 22, a 19-year-old British teenager with the username jercos said: “I’ll order Papa John’s for you, send me your address and the coins.” The transaction was completed. Laszlo took a photo — blurry, with an open paper box on the table, the pizza inside looking no different from the $30 delivery apps offer today.
But with that bite, two worlds were bitten off.
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What happened to him later?
Laszlo is not an ordinary person. He’s not just the “Pizza Guy” — he developed the first Mac Bitcoin client and pioneered GPU mining. The code he wrote allowed ordinary people to mine Bitcoin with graphics cards, ending the era of CPU mining. Satoshi Nakamoto himself emailed him politely, saying: “I’m a bit worried, this might lead to too much centralization of hash power.”
Laszlo later joked: “I might have messed up Bitcoin.”
As for those BTC — he spent nearly 100k coins on pizza, servers, gadgets. Today (2026.5.21), with BTC ≈ $67,200, that’s roughly $100k in total value.
When asked if he regrets it, he said:
“I regret not trying more flavors. Bitcoin is meant to be spent. If everyone just hoards and never spends, it’s just a string of code forever.”
This man ate the most expensive meal in history, yet fed the entire blockchain.
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Brainstorm 1
PoP Consensus Mechanism (Proof of Pizza)
Future L1 blockchains don’t require staking ETH or GPU power. Nodes exchange pizzas with each other; the more pizzas sent and the more popular the flavors, the higher the block weight. The penalty for double-spending is: sending the other party a lifetime supply of pineapple pizzas (Italians are furious, but Hawaiian fans rejoice).
Brainstorm 2: “Regret Pills” Perpetual Contract
Exchanges launch a new product: Pizza Perp, where the underlying isn’t BTC price but “How does Laszlo feel today if he hadn’t spent those 10,000 BTC?” Long position = you think he regrets; short position = you think he finds the pizza delicious. Leverage up to 100x, liquidation triggered by a surge in global pizza orders.
Brainstorm 3: Laszlo Meme DAO
Community launches a DAO, crowdfunding 0.1 BTC, with the goal — find Laszlo and get him to eat another pizza, with a full video recording. If he says “I don’t regret,” airdrop $NOPIZZA tokens; if he says “Actually, I do regret,” airdrop $REGRET. Whatever he says, the tokens will be worth zero. Because the market only cares about stories, not truth.
Brainstorm 4: Pizza Day AI Performance Art
On May 22, 2026, at 14:11 (the original trading time), all bots connected to OpenAI API are collectively paused for 1 second, sending 0.00001 BTC to Laszlo’s historical address with a note: “This is your tip, the rest of the coins we HODL for you.”
Bitcoin Pizza Day isn’t a dark humor mocking “missing out on a billion.” It’s a reminder:
The meaning of money lies in exchange, and the meaning of exchange is life.
Laszlo got the pizza he wanted, and the crypto world thus gained its first “real-world exchange rate.” Today, buy a slice of pizza — with BTC, USDT, or cash. Take a photo and post in the group with a message:
“Salute to the hungry man who feeds the future.”
🍕 Happy Pizza Day, don’t let your coins go hungry, and don’t let yourself go hungry.
---
If someone actually issues tokens based on these brainstorms, remember to buy me a slice of pie 😋#Gate广场披萨节
On May 18, 2010, in Florida, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz opened BitcoinTalk and typed a line that would later be engraved into crypto history:
“I’ll pay 10,000 BTC for a couple of pizzas.”
At that time, 1 BTC ≈ $0.004, 10,000 coins ≈ $40. He wanted two large pizzas, one with Italian sausage and green peppers, the other with mushrooms and olives. The post was up for four days, ignored by everyone.
On May 22, a 19-year-old British teenager with the username jercos said: “I’ll order Papa John’s for you, send me your address and the coins.” The transaction was completed. Laszlo took a photo — blurry, with an open paper box on the table, the pizza inside looking no different from the $30 delivery apps offer today.
But with that bite, two worlds were bitten off.
---
What happened to him later?
Laszlo is not an ordinary person. He’s not just the “Pizza Guy” — he developed the first Mac Bitcoin client and pioneered GPU mining. The code he wrote allowed ordinary people to mine Bitcoin with graphics cards, ending the era of CPU mining. Satoshi Nakamoto himself emailed him politely, saying: “I’m a bit worried, this might lead to too much centralization of hash power.”
Laszlo later joked: “I might have messed up Bitcoin.”
As for those BTC — he spent nearly 100k coins on pizza, servers, gadgets. Today (2026.5.21), with BTC ≈ $67,200, that’s roughly $100k in total value.
When asked if he regrets it, he said:
“I regret not trying more flavors. Bitcoin is meant to be spent. If everyone just hoards and never spends, it’s just a string of code forever.”
This man ate the most expensive meal in history, yet fed the entire blockchain.
---
Brainstorm 1
PoP Consensus Mechanism (Proof of Pizza)
Future L1 blockchains don’t require staking ETH or GPU power. Nodes exchange pizzas with each other; the more pizzas sent and the more popular the flavors, the higher the block weight. The penalty for double-spending is: sending the other party a lifetime supply of pineapple pizzas (Italians are furious, but Hawaiian fans rejoice).
Brainstorm 2: “Regret Pills” Perpetual Contract
Exchanges launch a new product: Pizza Perp, where the underlying isn’t BTC price but “How does Laszlo feel today if he hadn’t spent those 10,000 BTC?” Long position = you think he regrets; short position = you think he finds the pizza delicious. Leverage up to 100x, liquidation triggered by a surge in global pizza orders.
Brainstorm 3: Laszlo Meme DAO
Community launches a DAO, crowdfunding 0.1 BTC, with the goal — find Laszlo and get him to eat another pizza, with a full video recording. If he says “I don’t regret,” airdrop $NOPIZZA tokens; if he says “Actually, I do regret,” airdrop $REGRET. Whatever he says, the tokens will be worth zero. Because the market only cares about stories, not truth.
Brainstorm 4: Pizza Day AI Performance Art
On May 22, 2026, at 14:11 (the original trading time), all bots connected to OpenAI API are collectively paused for 1 second, sending 0.00001 BTC to Laszlo’s historical address with a note: “This is your tip, the rest of the coins we HODL for you.”
Bitcoin Pizza Day isn’t a dark humor mocking “missing out on a billion.” It’s a reminder:
The meaning of money lies in exchange, and the meaning of exchange is life.
Laszlo got the pizza he wanted, and the crypto world thus gained its first “real-world exchange rate.” Today, buy a slice of pizza — with BTC, USDT, or cash. Take a photo and post in the group with a message:
“Salute to the hungry man who feeds the future.”
🍕 Happy Pizza Day, don’t let your coins go hungry, and don’t let yourself go hungry.
---
If someone actually issues tokens based on these brainstorms, remember to buy me a slice of pie 😋#Gate广场披萨节
