Pizza Day: What you need to know and other juicy things

It's May 22 and it's Pizza Day. We too want to celebrate this historic day in the history of Bitcoin in our own way.

We will take this opportunity to tell you about other surprising anecdotes that you may not yet know.

1/ Pizza day: The first bitcoin transaction in the world

So, most certainly, you know the origin of this Pizza Day which we celebrate more and more elsewhere in the community. It was actually on May 22, 2010 that the very first bitcoin transaction was made. It was the first time someone paid with bitcoin! So, no offense to the detractors of bitcoin, the very first transaction was not to buy drugs or weapons, no, it was to buy food, quite simply.

It’s a Bitcoin developer which bears the sweet name of Laszlo Hanyecz, Who spent 10,000 bitcoin to buy two Papa John's brand pizzas, for what was worth $40 at the time...

Against all expectations and according to an article published on Coindesk, Laszlo admits to having no regrets and even says he is very proud to have been the first to carry out this transaction. Even if the amount makes him pale today, he would also have kept other bitcoins warm, the smart one.

And, as for Papa John's, yes, today, which certainly makes it the most crypto-rich pizzeria in the world.

You should know that for several years, we have seen that May 22 is a holiday for crypto-enthusiasts. Pizza day is celebrated by eating pizza ;).

2 / The FBI owns the most bitcoin after Satoshi Nakamoto

It is said that the FBI has the second largest bitcoin wallet in the world, after Satoshi Nakamoto, of course.

Even if this may frighten some people, you should know that this acquisition is very coherent and it is linked to theSilkRoad affair.

Silk Road, it was an Amazon-type marketplace on the dark web in which you could buy everything, mainly from LSD to Kalashnikovs. The platform launched by Ross Ulbricht who is now in prison for life, since the closure of the illegal e-commerce network in 2015.

The affair is frankly fascinating, and it is now part of crypto culture. Indeed, it is also because of this story that bitcoin has long been renowned for being the currency of bad guys…

Today, the FBI owns 1,5% of the world's bitcoin, which amounts to millions of dollars.

To find out more about the SilkRoad affair and Ross Ulbricht, here are some documentaries available on YouTube.

👉 The inside of SilkRoad (in English with subtitles).

3 / From bitcoin was sent into space.

In 2016, the company CloudMining which is certainly the benchmark in the field, namely Genesis Mining sent bitcoin into space, literally. In fact, they printed a bitcoin address taped to a 3D printed bitcoin.

The entire scene was filmed using a camera onboard the bitcoin. The team sent 1 BTC once the bitcoin was in space and they filmed the entire scene. You can still see the video on the internet. here.

Mad? Huge PR stunt, by the way, but the goal was also to show that bitcoin had no borders and that it was the ultimate currency of the earthly people, in short.

4 / Liberland: the country that does not exist…officially but in which bitcoin is the main currency

In April 2015, a politician from the Czech Republic, Lives Jedlicka to create a micro-nation located between Croatia and Serbia. The Republic of Liberland is not officially recognized by the two border countries even if the founder affirms that it is a land which does not belong to any country.

What is interesting about Liberland is that there is a president, a foreign minister and even a relatively developed political system. Well, the political party is clearly liberal, it is Hayek to the power of a thousand. The motto is "live and let live", with no or little tax and few laws of course. Everyone does what they want, it is an anarchist's paradise, you understand.

Everyone can live in Liberland, except, it is written on the site, extremists, communists and neo-Nazis, we can read on the official website of Liberland.

No recognition from the United Nations, even if there is still an agreement with Somaliland (a self-proclaimed state again, in 1991) on mutual recognition. No wonder you tell me…

5/ In fact, Bitcoin cannot be banned.

Recently, with the banning of cryptos from certain financial institutions by China, the markets have suffered strong shocks and bitcoin is flirting with the $30 mark after experiencing a price of around $000. 60,000 throughout the beginning of 2021.

Perhaps the end of the bull run or simply a necessary market correction, this nevertheless reopened the question of legislation on bitcoin.

Perhaps there is something that is too often forgotten and that it is necessary to repeat here: Bitcoin cannot be banned, it can just be regulated.

In reality, by the very design of bitcoin, we cannot prohibit the use of bitcoin because that would be as difficult as banning internet use.

This is made even more impossible thanks to VPNs, as you may already know. Yes, VPNs are used to hide our addresses and this explains why many people use them to access prohibited sites, for example, in their country. This can be the case, for example, to watch films on Netflix or to access internet sites. bitcoin sports betting for example.

You can benefit from a reduction on your NordVPN subscription, here.

In short, with the anonymity allowed by VPNs, countries could ban bitcoin as they wish, this would in no way prevent their use.

Likewise, countries would take advantage of this to accept bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because this can be a powerful financial windfall while enabling the advancement of blockchain technology.

Final Word on Pizza Day

In reality, the fundamental design can only be regulated and not prohibited. Anyone with an internet connection and a Bitcoin wallet can do business using Bitcoin.

It will even be a boon for countries to accept cryptocurrencies. This is why many countries have certainly tried to ban bitcoin, such as Thailand, Vietnam, or even Bangladesh, but in vain.... Conversely, countries like Australia, Russia, Malta or even Japan officially accepts bitcoin and their economies are not complaining…

We are of course preparing a video and an article on the subject of China, and future regulations in France, for example.

That's it for the 5 little-known things about bitcoin, in honor of Pizza Day.

You can also see the video version of the article: