Bitcoin breaks the $100,000 barrier for the primary time

Bitcoin has handed the $100,000 threshold for the primary time. At roughly 9:39PM ET this night, the cryptocurrency’s worth hit six figures, shifting it previous the milestone for the primary time in its practically 16-year historical past.

That additionally means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now value $1 billion. For these not within the loop, a Florida man — as a result of, in fact it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for 2 Papa John’s pizzas over 14 years in the past in what’s thought-about the cryptocurrency’s first business transaction.

“I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a few pizzas … like possibly 2 massive ones so I’ve some left over for the following day,” Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto discussion board on Could 18, 2010. 4 days later, a British man took him up on the provide. That quantity was solely value $45 on the time. (And the UK man solely paid Papa John’s $25!) However solely 9 months later, the transaction’s worth had skyrocketed to $10,000.

Hanyecz told The New York Occasions in 2013 that he had no regrets concerning the then-$6 million pizza order. “It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any worth again then, so the concept of buying and selling them for a pizza was extremely cool,” he mentioned. “Nobody knew it was going to get so huge.”

I ponder if Florida Man has any regrets now that his charge for these two Papa John’s pizzas is value a billion {dollars}.

Taking a look at it one other method, Papa John’s current market cap is $1.567 billion. So, had Hanyecz saved his crypto as a substitute of ordering these two pizzas, he might have purchased practically two-thirds of the corporate that baked his pie in the present day.

Then, there’s the story of a author who, in 2017, helped a good friend get better (on the time) $200,000 worth of Bitcoin from a broken laptop. These 40 Bitcoins caught in a MultiBit pockets for three-and-a-half years are value greater than $4 million in the present day (as long as the cryptocurrency stays above the $100,000 mark).