If you’ve ever wondered how the bitcoin revolution actually began—beyond the memes and moon charts—this is your field guide. We’ll walk through the first bitcoin transaction, why Pizza Day is more than a punch line, and how these milestones cemented the history of Bitcoin. Along the way, we’ll answer common questions like what is Bitcoin, when did Bitcoin start, and what was the Bitcoin price in 2010, while keeping the story useful and practical.
What Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is open-source, peer-to-peer electronic cash designed to work without banks or central authorities. It went live when the genesis block (Block 0) was mined on January 3, 2009, embedding a UK newspaper headline—“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”—as a time-stamp and quiet editorial. The first open-source client appeared just six days later on January 9, 2009.
Just before the first transaction, Hal Finney posted the now-iconic two-word tweet—“Running bitcoin”—capturing the moment ordinary people began booting the software at home.
The First Bitcoin Transaction (Jan 12, 2009): Satoshi → Hal
Three days after the software release, Satoshi sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. The goal wasn’t profit; it was proof-of-concept—a live test that the ledger updated correctly and the network could transfer value between two people. Guinness World Records dates and documents this moment as the first BTC transaction in history.
You can even view early transaction data on public explorers (the point of a transparent blockchain is that the record remains, permanently). This simple handoff is where the history of Bitcoin stops being theory and starts being money that moves.
The First Bitcoin Purchase (May 22, 2010): Why Pizza Day Matters
Source: Cryptorank
By mid-2010, enthusiasts were mining, tinkering, and chatting on forums—but Bitcoin still lacked a clear market price. That changed when Laszlo Hanyecz posted on Bitcointalk offering 10,000 BTC for two pizzas; a community member ordered them (roughly $25), and Laszlo sent the coins. This crypto exchange assigned a tangible value to BTC for a real-world good. Today it’s celebrated annually as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Guinness notes the 10,000 BTC were then worth around $41—a trivial sum in hindsight, but a huge leap in establishing BTC as spendable money. On the 15th anniversary in 2025, mainstream coverage reminded the world those coins would be worth about $1.1 billion at the day’s price levels—a headline-friendly way to measure its maturation.
What Was the Bitcoin Price in 2010?
Source: Kraken
What made these early trades quirky is that bitcoin price barely existed. In 2010, BTC never exceeded $0.40; it crossed $1 for the first time in February 2011, then briefly touched $8 by May that year. So when people ask when did Bitcoin start to “have value,” the real answer is that value slowly coalesced across forum deals like Pizza Day and nascent marketplaces.
The Two “Firsts”—Side by Side Comparison
| Topic | First Bitcoin Transaction | First Commercial Bitcoin Transaction (Pizza Day) |
| Date | Jan 12, 2009 | May 22, 2010 |
| Parties | Satoshi Nakamoto → Hal Finney | Laszlo Hanyecz ↔ community member (who ordered two pizzas) |
| Amount | 10 BTC | 10,000 BTC |
| What happened | The first person-to-person send on the live network | The first real-world purchase of physical goods |
| Why it mattered | Proved the client and blockchain worked; kick-started P2P transfers | Gave BTC a street price; made it feel useful to everyday people |
How These Moments Shaped the Bitcoin Revolution
1) From hobbyist code to money in the wild
The Satoshi → Hal transfer showed that anyone with the software could receive digital cash without permission. That’s a philosophical break from traditional finance and a core reason the bitcoin revolution took root.
2) From “What is Bitcoin?” to “Can I buy something?”
Pizza Day reframed Bitcoin from a cypherpunk experiment into a medium of exchange, however briefly and cheaply priced. It anchored a market narrative: if you can buy pizza, you can buy anything.
3) A living timeline with receipts
Because Bitcoin’s ledger is public, you can verify early blocks and transactions, including the genesis message referencing The Times front page on day one. That transparency remains a key teaching tool for people discovering the history of Bitcoin.
Why Do People Still Celebrate Pizza Day?
“Bitcoin Pizza Day” lands every May 22 as a reminder that value is social before it’s numerical. In 2010, BTC wasn’t a trillion-dollar asset; it was an idea looking for a price. The pizzas weren’t about extravagance—they were about making Bitcoin real. Even in 2025, major outlets revisited the story to illustrate how far BTC had run since those two pies.
How to Learn, Store, and Exchange BTC
If this is your first deep dive into Bitcoin’s origin story, here’s a practical way to engage:
- Learn the basics first. Read the intro sections on Bitcoin and its early history from reputable encyclopedias and documentation. The timeline around the genesis block, the client release, and Hal Finney’s role is well-documented.
- Self-custody when ready. Part of Bitcoin’s power is holding your own keys. Start small, practice backups, and only then scale up.
- When you exchange BTC: Use established exchange platforms with security controls (MFA, withdrawal whitelists). If you exchange crypto infrequently, consider fees and spreads; if you exchange BTC to USDT often, learn best practices for minimizing slippage.
- Price perspective. The bitcoin price has gone from fractions of a cent to global headlines—but it has also seesawed across cycles. That’s normal for novel technology. Use long timelines to stay sane.
Why “Firsts” Still Matter in 2025
The first bitcoin transaction and the first bitcoin purchase bookend the moment money went from concept to culture—from a two-party test to a two-pizza dinner. They also show why early adopters like Hal Finney loom large in the history of Bitcoin: they did the simple, slightly scary thing first, when the bitcoin price in 2010 was basically a rounding error.
So the next time you see a chart or a tweetstorm, remember the small acts that set it all in motion: a ten-coin test, a forum post offering pizza, and a handful of people who decided to click “send.” That’s the human heartbeat of a network that now spans the planet—and it’s why “first bitcoin transaction pizza” will always mean more than a meme.