Pizza Day Forever? Yes, Please

I could live on pizza, I must admit, and it’s been my favorite food for decades. In the mid-1970s, my father would take me to his favorite local pizza shop named Beto’s Pizza on Banksville Road, just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A slice of plain pizza was 29 cents plus tax. The first slice of pizza bought with cryptocurrency transacted on May 22, 2010, at an estimated price of 500 Bitcoin per slice – between $12 and $13 million nowadays! The entire sale included the purchase of two large pizzas, for which Laszlo Hanyecz offered to pay 10,000 Bitcoin to anyone. Jeremy Sturdivant accepted his offer, and this day in history is known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, marking the first mainstream transaction where Bitcoin was accepted as a means of exchange. At the time, the total transaction had a value of about $41 USD, and Bitcoin was in its infancy in terms of value.

Physical Bitcoin was first issued in 2011 and branded Casascius by software engineer Mike Caldwell, who was living in Sandy, Utah. He pictured part of physical Bitcoin as a washer, which is a flat disk with a hole in the center and is used to distribute the load of a threaded fastener such as a nut or a bolt. Then he thought of placing a piece of paper inside of the washer, containing a private key for one Bitcoin. Finally, he wanted to seal both sides with tamper-proof stickers. He contacted a company that manufactured tokens and had designs produced to his specifications which were a little more refined than initially conceived.

Caldwell’s first Bitcoin token design from 2011 was struck in brass, and the obverse sports the Latin phrase “VIRES IN NUMERIS,” which translated into English is “strength in numbers.” A large “B” with two horizontal lines crossing through the character, similar to the “$” sign, is also present. The date 2011 is located to the right, and “1 Bitcoin” is written at the six o’clock position. The reverse displays the brand Casascius in multiple positions on a holographic seal, and a “B” exists as well. By peeling away the seal, a “key” is revealed, and it is used to redeem the Bitcoin. Tokens that have been unredeemed will always sell for a premium to those that have been redeemed or spent. A 25 Bitcoin denomination and a 100 Bitcoin ingot could have been ordered from Mike Caldwell as well, which were both gilt or gold-plated brass. All three of these denominations described above are included in a set we have listed on the PCGS Set Registry as Casascius Bitcoin Brass and Gilt Type Set, Circulation Strikes (2011).

In 2012, Casascius issued 1 Bitcoin in brass and a 5 Bitcoin denomination that was made of nickel-plated brass. Both of these denominations are listed in the following set titled Casascius Bitcoin Brass and Nickel Plated Type Set, Circulation Strikes (2012), which can be found on the PCGS Set Registry as well. The third denomination available for purchase during this year was the 1,000 Bitcoin denomination struck in an ounce of .999-fine gold. Only six were issued, and four of them have not been redeemed to the present day.

On October 4, 2021, PCGS and GreatCollections issued the following joint press release: “Purchased in December 2011 for $4,905, it is now worth $48 million (USD) at the BTC value as of Monday morning, October 4, 2021. On behalf of its anonymous owner, GreatCollections of Irvine, California, submitted the gold 1,000 Bitcoin physical coin under armed guard for certification to Professional Coin Grading Service. It has been certified a perfect PCGS PR70DCAM.” Shortly after this announcement, GreatCollections auctioned a 2011 Casascius one-ounce .999 silver 25 Bitcoin PCGS MS67 for a cool $1.64 Million on November 14, 2021. The auction had noted that about 800 of the 25 Bitcoin denominations were ordered, and more than half had been redeemed to date.

Auctions for cryptocurrency have been gaining momentum, and they appeal to a broad spectrum of collectors. Since November 2021, Stack’s Bowers Galleries has auctioned more than $4 million of physical cryptocurrency, which may be viewed at Stack’s Bowers Galleries archives by typing “BTC” into the search field. This search will yield over 550+ results of physical Bitcoin that have been sold by the auction house in the numerous physical cryptocurrency and physical Bitcoin auctions held. Many listings provide resourceful and helpful descriptions to the novice like myself. On August 18, 2023, a 2013 Casascius one-ounce .999 silver 10 Bitcoin graded PCGS SP68 was sold for $312,000 by Stack’s Bowers Galleries. This coin is listed on the PCGS Set Registry as part of the Casascius Bitcoin Silver Type Set, Proof, and Specimen (2012-2013) for collectors to potentially build.

Production of the Casascius Bitcoin brand ceased on November 27, 2013, due to federal and state regulatory pressures. These tokens are highly collectible nowadays, and the PCGS Set Registry is the first to offer six Casascius Bitcoin cryptocurrency sets for our members to build under the “Multi-Country” category. PCGS has graded over 800+ physical Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency has changed how a "store of value" is perceived.

There are multiple cryptocurrencies that are available for purchase nowadays, but Bitcoin remains the most valuable. Debates about value will continue into the future, and only time will tell. The acceptance of cryptocurrency is widespread in comparison to when it was first spent on Bitcoin Pizza Day by Laszlo Hanyecz.

Laszlo could have never predicted the hyper-appreciation of Bitcoin that came in what was then the near future. Very few had probably cashed out at the top price of $68,000+ that Bitcoin peaked at back in November 2021. Good for the folks who did monetize at the top, and some may be “Waiting for the Day” to unload their holdings, as George Michael sang back in 1990 on his “Listen Without Prejudice” album.

I didn’t have to wait too long to enjoy my favorite hometown pizza. I had the pleasure of attending the 2023 American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money, which was held in Pittsburgh this past August – close to my hometown. I invited Ellery and Justin from Boardwalk Numismatics, LLC, who are foodies like myself, to join me at Beto’s Pizza. They enjoyed the pizza just as I did when I was a kid. I’m sure the recipe is a little different than what it was back in the 1970s. A slice of plain pizza now costs $1.92 plus tax, and the interior of the building has changed somewhat as well. But one thing hasn’t changed: they still don’t accept cryptocurrency for payment. Only the United States dollar!