May 22, 2010, is a date marked in the annals of cryptocurrency market. Its importance is a funny anecdote but a significant one. Significant because it's the day people widely believe that cryptocurrency arrived in the mainstream economy.

It started with a programmer called Laszlo Hanyecz and his decision to purchase pizza using some coins he had mined. At the time, the coins were valued less than a cent so no merchant in their right mind would accept them as a valid form of payment.

Realizing this, Hanyecz went on the Bitcointalk forum and posted that he wanted to order two large pizzas in exchange for 10,000 Bitcoins (BTC). Having read the post, a user named “jercos” humored Hanyecz’s offer. The 10,000 BTC were transferred and jercos ordered two large pizzas for Hanyecz from Papa John’s completing the transaction.

At the time, Bitcoin’s value stood only at $0.0041 converting the 10,000 BTC to $41. However, BTC has seen a tremendous exponential rise in its worth following 2010.

At one point, it was valued at $17,900 in December 2017. But due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrency, that number went down to $7,914 as of this writing.

Regardless of the drop in value, the $10,000 Bitcoins still converts to $79,140,000 in today’s market. That would make Hanyecz’s purchase the most expensive pizza order in history. It’s also considered as the first-ever cryptocurrency transaction involving a real-world product.

Today, hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants are accepting cryptocurrency as a valid means to complete transactions. And it’s not just restaurants but a multitude of businesses in general.

Thus, May 22 has been dubbed by the crypto community as Bitcoin Pizza Day and has become an annual tradition enjoyed by enthusiasts operating in this ecosystem. As for Hanyecz, it’s reported that he’s still actively engaged in the crypto industry today and has even made headlines in February 2018 when he yet again bought two pizzas using Bitcoin. And there’s no doubt that the guy is out there now celebrating this milestone that he’s been a part of eight years ago.