It’s Bitcoin Pizza Day – a regular slice of history – celebrating the moment a bloke spent coins that would now be worth more than $US268 million on fast food.
What is Bitcoin Pizza Day, you ask?
It’s the date enthusiasts of the OG digital asset mark the anniversary of the occasion a BTC whale back in the day (13 years ago) spent 10,000 of the digital coins on a couple of Papa John’s pizzas.
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As of right now, that amount of Bitcoin would be worth about $US268.6 million.
Good thing he didn’t buy garlic bread, too.
Laszlo Hanyecz is his name. And he’s survived to still tell his bitter-tasting tale.
By the way, the person on the other end of the transaction, one Jeremy Sturdivant, looks like this …
He didn’t hodl for long though and squandered it all on travel expenses.
Today those #Bitcoin are worth around US$270M.
So, while Bitcoin Pizza Day may be a celebration of the first time it was spent, it’s a sober reminder of the value of hodling, because we’re all still early.
— JP Technology â¿ (@JP_Technology) May 21, 2023
As you no doubt noticed in the Tweet above, unfortunately for Sturdivant, according to the Aussie Twitter account JP Technology (a “Bitcoin evangelist”), he also wasn’t of a HODLing mindset, apparently selling his potential fortune on “travelling expenses”.
Surely someone or someones managed to get rich off these early transactions … or perhaps the fortune has been spread out and/or lost in the blockchain due to misplaced Bitcoin “keys”.
Whatever the case, the day is of significance in the world of Bitcoin and crypto, as it marks the first time BTC was publicly used as a medium of exchange.
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Top 10 overview
With the overall crypto market cap at $US1.18 trillion at noon Tuesday (AEST), up about 1.9% since the same time Monday, here’s the state of play among top 10 tokens – according to CoinGecko.
Source: CoinGecko
If you’re obsessed with short-term crypto price action, then the past few days in the Crypto Town has kind of sucked for you, unfortunately.
A quick check of the Crypto Fear & Greed Index pretty much shows the overriding market sentiment just lately – Neutral, in other words: “meh”.
Source: alternative.me
There’s a bit for investors to be fearful about right now, or at least somewhat concerned. The US debt ceiling impasse is, in theory, one of those factors.
The Democrats and Republicans apparently have about 10 days to reach a deal on raising America’s debt ceiling so it doesn’t default, which would supposedly steepen the US into recession, unemployment chaos and cause seismic wider global economic repercussions.
You’d like to think they can sort that out between them in that time frame, wouldn’t you?
In any case, is there anything to be slightly hopeful about with the crypto market right now? If you’re taking a longer time frame view on it all and looking ahead to next year’s Bitcoin “halving” event, then sure.
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That said, Roman Trading is one Crypto Twittering analyst who is still seeing shortish-term explosive upside and is still calling for that short squeeze …
This has been a very boring 2 months of trading.
Donât lose interest because youâll miss the big move.
Volatility is building. Thereâs going to be lots of money to be made soon.
Patience.#bitcoin#cryptocurrency#stocks#cryptotrading
— Roman (@Roman_Trading) May 23, 2023
Meanwhile, according to emailed notes we received this morning from eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert, he summarises that there is a “wait-and-see approach taking hold of markets”, adding: “Bitcoin demand continues to flatline as markets move nervously toward the second half of the year … Uncertainty in markets continues to be driven by waiting and watching central bank moves.
“US Fed chair Jerome Powell indicated on Friday that rate hikes could now pause. The central bank, however, has garnered something of an unreliable partner reputation among markets in recent months, leaving asset movements to trade on uncertainty.”
Uppers and downers: ‘Chinese coins’ pumping again?
Some of the biggest 24-hour gainers and losers at noon Tuesday (AEST). Stats based on CoinGecko.com data.
PUMPERS (11-100 market cap position)
- Conflux (CFX), (market cap: $US679 million) +13.4%
- NEO (NEO), (mc: $US694 million) +8%
- IOTA (MIOTA), (mc: $US515 million) +6.1%
- TRON (TRX), (mc: $US7.13 billion) +5.9%
- Kava (KAVA), (mc: $US575 million) +5.7%
Conflux and NEO are having reasonably decent pumps today on an otherwise fairly flattish day in the market … so what gives?
As we’ve mentioned in recent articles, the Chinese coin narrative has been rearing its head out of the woods periodically this year.
Some keen-eyed traders, such as perhaps this bloke here, “David, The Crypto Bull” (erm, absolutely not financial advice), are eyeing up June 1 as a date of significance that’s playing into these pumps.
That’s the date that Hong Kong is officially taking its first steps towards allowing retail investors to participate in crypto trading/buying and selling once again.
One for the hopium crack crypto pipe, perhaps.
$CFX might be ready to do things differently as well ð¥ð¥ð¥ Markets sh*t but that doesnât mean you should ignore China ð¨ð³ Narrative #Altcoins! â¦Most Alts are done capitulating like I said before.
June 1st hype loading ðâ³ https://t.co/WfR7ysmR88pic.twitter.com/qMSLRqqHw6
— David, ð The Crypto Bull ðï¸ð¦¥ (@DavidOnCrypto_) May 22, 2023
#Bitcoin ðð°
As of June 1, retail investors in Hong Kong will be allowed to trade cryptocurrencies.
Many may not know it, but Hong Kong is one of the top 10 wealthiest cities in the world.
I think we’ll see a lot of green candles this summer.
Summer Rally in 2023?ð
— ðð ð¦ð¤ð¥ððâð 𧲠(@el_crypto_prof) May 22, 2023
PUMPERS (lower, lower caps)
- QASH (QASH), (market cap: $US36 millio) +316.7%
- Pink BNB (PNB), (mc: $US61 million) +46.3%
- Ovr (OVR), (mc: $US37 million) +45.1%
- Vega Protocol (VEGA), (mc: $US86 million) +41.6%
- marumaruNFT (MARU), (mc: $US358 million) +35.8%
SLUMPERS (11-100 market cap position)
- LEO Token (LEO), (market cap: $US3.29 billion) – 1.3%
- Bitget Token (BGB), (mc: $US655 million) -1.3%
- Rocket Pool (RPL), (mc: $US938 million) -1.1%
- WhiteBIT Token (WBT), (mc: $US665 million) -1%
- XDC Network (XDC), (mc: $US444 million) -0.8%
SLUMPERS (lower, lower caps)
- NUM Token (NUM), (market cap: $US20 million) -43.7%
- Bob Token (BOB), (mc: $US34 million) -30.1%
- MangoMan Intelligent (MMIT), (mc: $62 million) -27.9%
- Kripto (KRIPTO), (mc: $US32 million) -18.1%
- Volt Inu (VOLT), (mc: $US36 million) -17.4%
Around the blocks
Some pertinence and randomness that stuck with us on our morning moves through the Crypto Twitterverse.
1/4. These showed up in mail boxes across wealthy suburbs in Melbourne today.
It reminded me of a conversation with a UHNW friend about their investment thesis on #bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/sVpOzj6tHP
— Jeff Yew (@jeffyew_) May 22, 2023
This content first appeared on stockhead.com.au
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