# The pizza coins — Paths

> In May 2010, 10,000 bitcoin bought two Papa John's pizzas, about $41 at the time. At later peaks those coins would have been worth around $1.1 billion. Jeremy Sturdivant, who received them, spent most of them long before the price moved.

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# The pizza coins

10,000 bitcoin for two pizzas. One side held. The other spent them within months.

**10,000 BTC** paid for two pizzas in May 2010, about $41 then

## What they did

Laszlo Hanyecz, a Florida programmer, offered 10,000 BTC on Bitcointalk for pizza. Jeremy 'jercos' Sturdivant, 19, paid with a credit card and received the coins. Both were early users of an obscure protocol.

## What they did not choose

Curiosity in 2010 was not a forecast of $100,000. Sturdivant treated the coins as spending money and cycled them back into the small Bitcoin economy as the price crept toward $1. The same 10,000 coins produced a fortune for a holder and two pizzas for a spender.

## Figures

- 10,000 BTC ≈ $41 in May 2010 (Fortune).

- At the November 2021 peak near $69,000, 10,000 BTC ≈ $690 million (crypto.news).

- At later prices near $110,000, the same coins would be worth about $1.1 billion (Fortune).

- Sturdivant spent most coins on travel and goods well before $1 (crypto.news interview).

## Limit

Early curiosity was shared. The outcome was not. Same coins, same moment, two finishes. This is not an argument to buy bitcoin.

## Sources

- [Fortune — Two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin](https://fortune.com/article/pizza-bitcoin-day-story-laszlo-hanyecz-papa-johns-pizzas-value/)

- [crypto.news — How Jeremy Sturdivant spent the pizza fortune](https://crypto.news/how-jeremy-sturdivant-spent-the-10000-bitcoin-pizza-fortune/)

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