Bitcoin price breaks the $100,000 barrier for the first time

Engadget 05.12.2024 16:50 Bitcoin has passed the $100,000 threshold for the first time. At approximately 9:39PM ET this evening, the cryptocurrency’s value hit six figures, moving it past the milestone for the first time in its nearly 16-year history. As of the morning of December 5th, the price has stayed well above that $100,000 mark, and Bitcoin's value has generally been steadily increasing over the past month or so. That's no guarantee it'll stay where it is, but it's clearly having a moment. That also means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now worth $1 billion. For those not in the loop, a Florida man — because, of course it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John’s pizzas over 14 years ago in what’s considered the cryptocurrency’s first commercial transaction. “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day,” Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto forum on May 18, 2010. Four days later, a British man took him up on the offer. That amount was only worth $45 at the time. But only nine months later, the transaction’s value had skyrocketed to $10,000. Hanyecz told The New York Times in 2013 that he had no regrets about the then-$6 million pizza order. “It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,” he said. “No one knew it was going to get so big.” I wonder if Florida Man has any regrets now that his fee for those two Papa John’s pizzas is worth a billion dollars. Looking at it another way, Papa John’s current market cap is $1.567 billion. So, had Hanyecz saved his crypto instead of ordering those two pizzas, he could have bought nearly two-thirds of the company that baked his pie today. Then, there’s the story of a writer who, in 2017, helped a friend recover $200,000 worth of Bitcoin from a broken laptop. Those 40 Bitcoins stuck in a MultiBit wallet for three-and-a-half years are worth more than $4 million today . Update, 10:35AM ET: This story has been updated with details about Bitcoin's current value after it hit the $100,000 mark. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bitcoin-price-breaks-the-100000-barrier-for-the-first-time-042918884.html?src=rss

Číst celý článek >>