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2010The pizza year

Bitcoin acquired its first real-world price, its first exchange and its first major bug. By the end of the year its creator had stepped back from the project.

Year-end price (approx.)

~$0.30

Block reward

50 BTC

Pizza price

10,000 BTC

What happened

1. May 22

   Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, the first widely recognised purchase of a physical good with Bitcoin. The date is now celebrated as Bitcoin Pizza Day.

2. Jul

   Mt. Gox begins operating as a Bitcoin exchange, and a widely read technology news story brings a wave of new attention and the first sharp price rise.

3. Aug 15

   A bug lets someone create about 184 billion BTC in a single transaction. The invalid block is rolled back within hours by a software fix.

4. Dec

   Satoshi’s last public forum posts appear, including a plea to keep Bitcoin out of the WikiLeaks controversy, and developer Gavin Andresen steps into a larger role.

Why it mattered

A price, a marketplace and a first stress test: the three things any young monetary network needs.

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