Boom and Bust

The Friday Newsletter makes some questionable investments

How much would you be willing to pay for a pizza?

I suppose the answer to that question depends. For a really good, gourmet pizza—or something really hearty like a Chicago deep dish—I’ve probably paid upwards of $30. Of course, lately, most of my pizza orders have been Domino’s, because it’s close, my kids love it, and I can get two pizzas for $12.

Would you pay half a billion dollars?

Because, in a way, one man did.

Tomorrow—May 22nd—is what’s known in some circles as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”, which commemorates the first real-world transaction completed using the then-fledgling cryptocurrency. On that date in 2010, software developer and early Bitcoin adopter Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, a novel transaction that played out on this message board thread.

Despite a sharp drop this week, the present-day value of those two pizzas (as of 8:41pm Thursday night) would be $413,857,000.

I like pizza, but even then, that’s a lot.

Hanyecz, who’s interviewed annually about this transa…