When Bitcoin was a little over a year old, Laszlo Hanyecz, the Florida-based programmer and developer made the first documented purchase with it when he bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in May 2010. He will perhaps go down in history as a prominent and forward-thinking mind tinkering on and behind the scenes of the early stages of Bitcoin’s landscape.

Bitcoin’s raucous journey since then has facilitated the way for the growth of thousands of other cryptocurrencies and exchanges that are being used for financial and investing activities. However, back in the day cryptocurrency exchanges weren’t mainstream, since Bitcoin was a hot topic of conversation in mostly tech circles. In fact, BTC trades were conducted via direct communication such as discussion boards and Internet Relay Chat rooms.

Eleven years later, the cryptocurrency industry as a whole has become far less riskier than it was back then. The arguments against Bitcoin keep coming, skepticism abound again and again, but it has proven to be a trailblazer. It is a solution to one of the greatest challenges in the financial space.

Bitcoin’s underlying Blockchain technology has also made giant strides over the last decade. The industry has been pouring out innovative applications year after year, but there’s still so much room to grow.

In the early stages, however, BTC price was worth less than a cent, which required transfers to thousands of coins to conduct any relevant trade in Bitcoin. Today, these are worth millions. Some of the investors from the early days sold to make a quick buck. But then there were others who believed in the technology of cryptocurrency, which is why they have been HODLing. 

Before big financial players entered, it was these early investors who held on to the digital asset and stayed put. This cohort of crypto-riche OGs are proud that they decided to be in for the long haul.

They played a quintessential role in fueling BTC. Also, purchases as simple as Laszlo’s spurred the development of the thriving Bitcoin economy of today. It’s because of those early adopters that the asset has gained viability and recognition as a currency today.

Phemex’s Token of Gratitude

The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Phemex recently raked up 1 million users on its global crypto trading platform, as it reported a 156.9% growth in the number of traders on the exchange in Q1 this year alone. Phemex also clocked in a 465.2% increase in trade volumes this quarter compared to the Q1 last year. It has also been incorporating features, revamping the platforms, and actively engaging with the community to ensure an optimal experience.

With Bitcoin Pizza Day just around the corner, the Phemex team has created a lucrative opportunity for the man himself – Laszlo Hanyecz as well as for the whole Phemex community. Despite buying those overvalued pizzas for 10,000 BTC, Hanyecz has no misconceptions nor regrets about his actions because his contribution does not end there. 

Beyond the pizza purchases, the programmer is known to a few about his significant contributions to Bitcoin’s mining algorithm.Before Bitcoin Pizza Man arrived on the scene, the archaic computer processor or CPU were the only way to mine the digital asset since they were widely-adopted. 

This was much before the arrival of application-specific integrated chips [ASICs] that are being used today. However, it was Laszlo who went on to develop a program that enabled miners to mine Bitcoin using their graphics cards [GPUs]. The race for more processing power had begun after the first generation of miners jumped into the bandwagon to leverage the superior device.

Today, Bitcoin is dominated by mining farms packed with ASICs. These are operated with near-zero downtime to keep the network afloat. But it all started with the shift to the GPUs after CPU mining died. Laszlo is an unsung hero of the Bitcoin mining realm. But Phemex wants to change that. The crypto platform has devised an interesting plan to celebrate his purchase’s eleventh anniversary.

Profit Is Sweet, Even if Pizza Isn’t

As a token of appreciation to the man who made the first real-world transaction in Bitcoin, Phemex is offering Laszlo an opportunity to spend his 10,000 BTC. Only this time he makes a profit. The Singapore-based exchange had recently unveiled their Earn Crypto platform – an asset management service that offers traders to receive up to 10% APY in interest up to 1.5 million USDT.

Hanyecz can earn nearly $110,000 in a single day just by depositing 10,000 BTC into Phemex’s Earn Crypto platform on the 22nd of May. To top that, he’ll get to keep all of it. But there’s a catch. Currently, the team at Phemex is still trying to get in touch with him, and the platform is open to any user who wants to avail the offer.

A quick primer: In the months that followed after the famed purchase, Hanyecz bought pizza nine more times. In total, he spended 100,000 BTC in just one summer. The only reason he stopped, according to a post on the original Bitcointalk thread, was that the network’s growing popularity meant he couldn’t spawn thousands of tokens every day from his home desktop.  

The main focus, however, shouldn’t be that the token he spent could fetch millions of dollars today. While the pizzas weren’t, in fact, valued correctly even back then, the bigger picture here is that he bought something with something that was known as a “magic internet money”. In hindsight, it was indeed worth spending his Bitcoins back then. Besides, with events such as Phemex’s celebration of Bitcoin Pizza Day, he’s probably glad he did.

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