How Pizza Day Relates To Bitcoin Mining

Memes aside, what is the value of Bitcoin Pizza Day? When Bitcoiners bargain pizza connected May 22 each year, what precisely are they celebrating?

We each cognize the story, and we’ve each astir apt wondered, “Does Laszlo Hanyecz regret buying 2 pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin successful 2010?” Hanyecz says no, he doesn’t regret it, but astir mean radical would reason that he's post-rationalizing.

“Of people he’d accidental that, it’s a coping mechanism. He can’t spell backmost successful clip and alteration it. But of people helium regrets it. Who wouldn’t?! He could’ve been a multimillionaire today!”

In fact, considering Hanyecz did the aforesaid happening much than once, helium could’ve been a billionaire astatine immoderate infinitesimal successful 2022, with a full of astir 100,000 bitcoin spent connected pizza successful 2010.

If contempt what helium says, you inactive judge that Hanyecz regrets it, I promote you to effort and understand that bitcoin regret is based connected a phantasy fiat mentality. It assumes that it’s amended to get fortunate and get thing for nothing, alternatively than enactment to gain it. It misses the constituent that, if you had gotten thing for nothing, you’d astir apt nary longer person it anyway, arsenic determination beryllium a 1000 antithetic ways, successful which you apt would’ve parted ways with it. Altcoins, scams oregon a elemental operation of greed and deficiency of appreciation for the value of what you’re holding.

How galore Bitcoin OGs from 2009 and 2010, who were sending bitcoin betwixt 1 different similar it was monopoly money, inactive person a stack that large?

My guess? Very few.

And this retrospective presumption remains applicable today. Case successful point: Bitcoin Ekasi is simply a task I founded successful August 2021 and it is specifically aimed astatine spending bitcoin. We’ve taken the Bitcoin Beach model and adapted it to a South African setting. Our purpose is simple: present Bitcoin into an impoverished township; first, arsenic a instrumentality for some idiosyncratic and assemblage empowerment, second, arsenic real-world objection that Bitcoin tin successful information present connected its promise.

Compared to fiat, bitcoin is some a superior savings exertion and now, with the Lightning Network, it is besides a superior payments network, some of which clasp large committedness for financially-excluded fringe economies. We’re hoping that bitcoin volition beryllium adopted successful this assemblage and aboriginal indications are promising that there’s important interest.

The lone mode to present bitcoin to radical and make a Bitcoin Beach-type circular system is to really usage it. To wage salaries with bitcoin and promote spending it connected real-world goods and services astatine the country stores we’ve onboarded. If we simply advocated for HODLing nary 1 successful this assemblage would follow it. At slightest not until it’s ubiquitous (and the upside to being an aboriginal adopter is acold little than what it is now).

You whitethorn accidental we’re contradicting ourselves, but there’s nary contradiction here. Not if you recognize wherever bitcoin was, wherever it is present and wherever it volition astir apt go. For the involvement of HODLing, we promote spending — astatine slightest initially.

Like galore Bitcoiners, my concern thesis is that bitcoin’s worth will, eventually, astir decidedly correspond a important information of the planetary system and astir apt a precise ample bulk of it. This result volition enactment the terms of bitcoin orders of magnitude higher than what it is today. It’s a thesis I’ve held since archetypal buying bitcoin successful 2013, adjacent its peak, and everything I’ve experienced since past continues to constituent successful that direction.

But if that’s the case, however could I walk bitcoin and (with a wide conscience) advocator that others bash the same? Flying successful the look of immoderate of the astir fashionable GigaChad influencers similar Michael Saylor and Dan Held, who accidental you should never sell and that they regret spending every azygous time.

Am I not contradicting myself? Wouldn’t I besides regret spending it?

Well it depends connected one’s perspective. Obviously the question of “How overmuch is enough?” varies from 1 idiosyncratic to different and nary 1 is successful a presumption to justice that connected idiosyncratic else’s behalf. Personally, if I’ve got a coagulated extortion implicit my head, if I tin comfortably provender my household and if I americium successful power of my ain time, past I’m happy. I volition ever stay engaged with constructive things, immoderate of which volition gain maine wealth and immoderate of which I bash due to the fact that it's fun. As agelong arsenic I tin spend to take either one, whenever I want, past I’m happy. I don’t request thousands (or adjacent hundreds) of bitcoin to bash that. But that’s conscionable me.

More importantly, my reasoning surrounding Laszlo Hanyecz and the Bitcoin Pizza Day communicative changed considerably erstwhile I learned that helium made other, acold much important contributions to Bitcoin: Hanyecz invented GPU mining and freely shared his invention with the community, among different things.

Sure, 2 $6 cardinal dollar pizzas made for large clickbait successful 2013, but chances are that astir radical who’d click connected that aren’t alert of these other, acold much important contributions made by the aforesaid person.

That represents the deeper symbolic quality of this day.

Bitcoin Pizza Day is astir remembering the contributions made by aboriginal pioneers — and we are each inactive precise early! — and remembering, possibly astir importantly, that bitcoin regret (selling and/or spending excessively aboriginal and/or buying excessively little) tin easy overshadow different much important contributions.

It’s astir remembering that Laszlo Hanyecz, similar different aboriginal pioneers, invented GPU mining and freely shared his invention with the assemblage and spent thousands of bitcoin connected pizza, astatine the aforesaid time. Both contributions correspond the aforesaid idiosyncratic and helium apt wouldn’t person made either 1 without the other.

Does Laszlo Hanyecz regret buying 2 pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin successful 2010?

I don’t deliberation so. He apt understands that if helium hadn’t done that, Bitcoin wouldn’t person been what it is today, and truthful should you.

In a precise existent way, you could accidental that having spent those 10,000 bitcoin is precisely what makes the aforesaid 10,000 bitcoin worthy hundreds of millions of dollars today. If helium alternatively kept that and not spent it, who knows? It’s imaginable that Laszlo Hanyecz would’ve been near with 10,000 useless integer tokens that cipher wanted successful 2022.

This is simply a impermanent station by Hermann Vivier. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc. oregon Bitcoin Magazine.