Skip to main content

The Altcoin Rises

O n May 11 2020, the crypto world experienced the phenomena knows as Bitcoin halving . For those who are still a little looney-toons regarding this phenomena, here's the lowdown . Moral of the story is that, as the Bitcoin supply decreased and it's 21 million market cap slowly approached, it was widely accepted that the low supply and high demand will increase the price of the cryptocurrency back to its previous highs. Basic business right? Wrong! Source: Equity Trust Company BTC prices actually fell and after briefly holding steady, are only just rising above the 10000 USD range. Surprise eh? Well, we are not done yet. Because while the most valuable crypto coin wasn't showing it's expected gains, some other cryptocurrencies shot to outer space. There was no SpaceX rocket nor a Tesla Roadster involved. These "altcoins" bumped up in their market value thanks to the entire underlying system of cryptocurrency: investor speculation.  But what exactly are these ...
Post a Comment

Would You Pay Millions for Pizza?

Pizza is one of the most universally loved junk foods. Sure we have arguments over pineapple and pizza and other such nonsense, but the majority of us can agree its a great comfort food,.Served either with some cheesy garlic breadsticks or wedges etc. or even just taken straight up cold, pizza invokes the sense of inner joy like few foods do. It's the kind of food you are willing to pay a decent amount for. But would you pay 8 figures for it?
Bitcoin Pizza Day 2020: How two Papa John's pies became famous ...
Now, this 8 figure sum is in US Dollars and not Zimbabwe Dollars. Nevertheless, fancy paying close to 100 million of those lovely green-backs for 2 large pizzas? Well sadly, you won't be the first one to achieve this absurdity.
You see, on 22nd May 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000BTC for 2 large pizzas. The core idea was using Bitcoin as a method of payment, something which had never been done prior to this occasion. So our man Laszlo decided to reach out to the community members of the Bitcointalk Forum, created by BTC founder Satoshi Nakamoto. He wanted pizza ( I empathize) and he was willing to do a deal in the digital cryptocurrency with anyone who would deliver pizzas to him. 
Another forum user, jercos, felt like he was getting a good deal. 10,000 BTC was worth about $41 back then, and those 2 large pizzas would only cost jercos $25. A very healthy profit margin. Thus a deal was struck, and the first-ever Bitcoin payments were done for pizza. What a madlad. 
When people compliment a pizza they usually use terms like amazing, cheesy, tasty etc. Well, the 2 pizzas ordered from Papa John's have become 'legendary'. Not only did the 2 'italians' bear witness to a historic transaction but they also rose in value. Hell, rose is an understatement. At its peak 1 BTC was around 20,000 USD, meaning those pizzas went from $25 to $200. Followed by 6 zero's. That's right, 200 million dollars for 2 large pizzas.
Bitcoin Pizza Guy: Laszlo Hanyecz on Why Bitcoin Is Still the Only ...
Even now, with BTC's price floating at around 9000 USD, the overall value of the pizzas is 90 million dollars. That's well over 45 million dollars a pizza. And these were bog-standard pizzas. No Mars space dust, gold foiled or truffle filled monstrosities.
Does Laszlo regret his purchase? Not exactly. Laszlo was an early contributor to Bitcoin software, and among the Bitcoin mining community, he is regarded as a genius for transferring crypto mining from CPU intensive to GPU intensive tasks. Plus, he had mined the 10,000 BTC on his own, so in theory, he was having 'free' pizzas. Additionally, no one would have thought Bitcoin value would have become as high as a druggie on cocaine.
No doubt at the back of his mind there is that 'What if...' question ( Laszlo's mind, not the druggie's). At least the Florida man got 2 pizzas out of it. You can bet that jercos sold the bitcoin as its value increased, and it's quite hard to imagine him onto the coin till it reached its zenith. He probably thinks ' What if..' too.
The biggest winner at the end of this event, of which Bitcoin enthusiasts, investors, miners call as the Bitcoin Pizza Day, is no doubt Papa John's. Their pizzas are worth millions of dollar. Whether they taste that well is debatable, right?





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The McLaren Speedtail is Egregiously Elegant

Form follows function.   That has been McLaren's mantra ever since its humble beginnings less than a decade ago. If producing a  supercar  as your first ever car can be called humble. They made the F1 in the '90s and partnered with Mercedes-Benz to give birth to the SLR's with its various editions in the early 2000s but the proper start of the organization only began in 2010, with a car name more apt for the Musk family, the MP4-12C. However, in just 8 years the brand has gone from strength to strength. And massively improved their naming system. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the pinnacle of McLaren Automotive: the Speedtail. Source: Google Images The Speedtail is a part of McLaren's Ultimate Series lineup and it's the evolution of McLaren's DNA which began with the 12C, followed by the 650 S, the 500 series, P1, the 720 S and the Senna. As you can see, the cars in McLaren's lineup not only became a lot easier to pronounce but more importantly stuck to t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Week's Top Ten

This list is in no particular order 1. Mercedes AMG Project One wearing zebra undies in the UK The flagship car of the Mercedes Group, the AMG Project One was caught pants down, roaring its way around German companies UK test site. Built to combat the increasing number of supercar/hypercar from its revenue hurting rivals, the Project One is set to slot one step above the AMG GT providing much better performance which naturally comes at a price. And even if you do have the money, you have to prove you have owned over 20 + Mercedes cars in your lifetime. Much selective, But we like. Other camo covered cars are the next-gen Audi R8 and the 600 + hp BMW X6 M. 2. God Of War get beaten by your friendly neighbourhood SpiderMan Sadly I don't live in New York. Nor have I been bitten by a spider. Nor do I have a PS4. But about 4.3 million people with PS4's ( obviously) have now become part of the Spidey Gang. 3.3 million copies sold in 3 days with another 1 million pre-orde...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucky Belgian "roll" another favourite out of the World Cup. Could they win it ?

These are the kinda games which you really want to sit up and watch. The best attack vs the best defence. Statistically, it was supposed to be football nirvana. France vs Uruguay? Psssh...Nah those are the underlying things. They kinda match you only watch the highlights for. The real deal was Brazil vs Belgium. And it delivered. At least for the fans, the lovers of Belgian chocolates, and the creators of Neymar memes. To be more precise it misdelivered for the Brazilians. It was always going to be a tough game. And Titee..uh sorry... Tite...knew Belgium, with the bullish Lukaku, the fleet-footed Hazard and 'Merlin' De Bruyne were going to present their hardest challenge yet at the World Cup. Mexico? Even Sweden scored 3 goals past the Mexicans. So yes, Belgium was going to be tough. But witnessing the Belgians huffing and puffing their way against a very delightful Japan side, Brazil and their coach knew there were some caldera sized holes to exploit. And exploit they did. ...
Post a Comment
Read more