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Bitcoin Data GuideBitcoin Reference

Network Stories · Notable Transactions

The Pizza Transaction

On 22 May 2010, 10,000 bitcoin were sent to pay for two pizzas. It is the first documented purchase of a physical good with bitcoin, and the transaction is still in the chain.
Written by
The Bitcoin Data Guide editorial team
Reviewed by
Protocol review desk
Dates
Published 2026-09-21 · Last reviewed 2026-09-21

Fact

A transaction in block 57,043 moved 10,000 bitcoin, and the purchase it paid for is documented in a public forum post.

Forecast

What the coins would be worth today is arithmetic on a later price, not part of the transaction.

What the record shows

The transaction is an ordinary spend: an output of 10,000 bitcoin was created and later spent, and the block that confirmed it is still in the chain. Nothing about the transaction itself marks it as unusual; what makes it notable is the purchase it paid for and the public record of that purchase.

The arrangement was made in a public forum, where one participant offered to send bitcoin in exchange for having pizzas delivered. The offer, the acceptance and the delivery are documented in the thread, which is why the transaction can be tied to a real-world purchase rather than only to an address.

The date, 22 May, is now marked by some as a day of remembrance for the first such purchase. That observance is a cultural fact about the community, not a property of the transaction, and this page keeps the two apart.

Timeline

  1. 18 May 2010A public forum post offers bitcoin in exchange for delivered pizza.
  2. 22 May 2010The pizzas are delivered and 10,000 bitcoin are sent, confirmed in block 57,043.
  3. LaterThe transaction is repeatedly cited as the first documented purchase of a physical good with bitcoin.

What the record does not settle

The transaction is often retold as a story about a fortune spent on a meal. That framing applies a later price to an earlier decision, which is arithmetic rather than history. The record shows what was sent and when; it does not show what the sender knew or intended.

The UTXO model page explains how a spend like this is recorded, and the milestones timeline places it in the wider sequence of dated events.

Sources

Bitcoin block explorer — block 57,043
The block that includes the 10,000 bitcoin transaction and its timestamp.
BitcoinTalk forum — pizza thread
The public thread in which the offer and the purchase were arranged and recorded.