Before Pizza, There Was a JPEG: The Forgotten First Bitcoin Transaction

Before Pizza, There Was a JPEG: The Forgotten First Bitcoin Transaction
Crypto Security
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With bitcoin pizza Day nearing, the community is engaged in a conversation about one of the initial Bitcoin transactions, pondering whether it involved the purchase of a JPEG.

Bitcoin Pizza Day is celebrated on May 22 to mark the first occasion when Bitcoin (BTC) was used to make payments. But, a screenshot from a Bitcoin forum is widely circulating on Twitter.

First Bitcoin Trade: An Image Worth 500 Bitcoin

Sabunir, who wanted to try Bitcoin transactions, posted on the Forum that he was willing to sell a desktop wallpaper for 500 BTC (approximately $1 in 2010). He wrote on Jan. 24, 2010:

“To get the picture, please send the coins to me and then send a Private Message stating the time you sent them. I will reply to your Private Message with a link to the picture.

The image I’m selling is my own creation, With a resolution of 1280?960 – great for a desktop background.”

Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, participated in the conversation to facilitate the trade.

Source: Bitcoin Forum

The Community Wasn’t Willing to Pay

A month after Sabunir’s post, the offer received lesser interest, and hence he questioned to refine future attempts on Feb. 9, 2010. A forum user, SmokeTooMuch, replied that he wasn’t interested in spending money on wallpaper.

Source: Bitcoin Forum

But, on Feb. 24, 2010, sabunir’s received two transactions, one for 100 btc and another for 500 btc.

The community has been discussing that if the transaction were due to the sale of an image, it would predate the infamous Bitcoin transaction of 10,000 BTC for two pizzas.

Source: Blockchair

However, others that these transactions were for a donation rather than sell of a JPEG. Adding to the argument, a Twitter user that the first transaction worth 100 BTC was received seven minutes before the donation request.

Perhaps only Sabunir can give clarification on the widely discussed Bitcoin transaction.

Meanwhile, there have been over 6.8 million Bitcoin Ordinals Inscriptions minted to date, according to a dashboard

The Ordinals technology allows inscribing data such as text, audio, and video to Satoshis, the smallest unit of BTC, thus making Satoshis unique. 

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