This is truly a heartbreaking story.

On May 18, 2010, programmer Laszlo posted that he wanted to trade 10,000 bitcoins for two large pizzas. Three days later, a cryptography enthusiast named Jercos spent $25 to buy two pizzas and sent them to Laszlo, receiving 10,000 bitcoins in return.

Looking back at the context of that time, perhaps this story isn’t as sad as it seems:

1. In 2010, Bitcoin was just over a year old. It was mainly used by cryptography enthusiasts as a tipping tool, with no established value in fiat currency. Most people didn’t even think of using it for real money transactions. Genius programmer Laszlo gave Bitcoin a price by using it to buy pizza, inadvertently pushing forward the process of virtual digital currencies becoming accepted as real money. He became the first person to use Bitcoin to buy a product, marking his place in history.
2. Back then, the competition for Bitcoin mining was minimal. Laszlo switched from CPU to GPU mining, earning 1-2 block rewards per hour, with each block reward being 50 bitcoins. On May 17 alone, he earned 1,400 bitcoins. Given the low cost of mining Bitcoin at the time, Laszlo probably had a large number of bitcoins. Exchanging some for pizza didn’t seem like a big deal.
3. People who had access to virtual digital currencies and earned rewards through mining, if they had continued to participate in mining and invested a little over the next 10 years, could have achieved financial freedom by investing in other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Ripple, or Ethereum, even if they missed out on Bitcoin.

However, a sad twist to the story did occur:

1. After his first successful pizza purchase, Laszlo spent another 40,000 bitcoins on pizza and sold all his bitcoins when the price reached $1 to buy a new computer.
2. Laszlo is still working as a programmer at GoRuck, an online retail company in Florida, similar to his job 9 years ago when he first bought Bitcoin.
3. Jercos received 10,000 bitcoins and only sold them when Bitcoin reached $20,000 in December 2017, making over ten times his initial investment.

People who have recently entered the field of digital currency often sigh, wishing they had gotten involved a few years earlier to achieve financial freedom. However, the story of Bitcoin pizza reminds us of the reality: missing out is still missing out, and knowing “what if” doesn’t change anything.

Similar stories of missed opportunities aren’t unique to the world of virtual digital currencies. You’ve probably heard about the man from Beijing who sold a small courtyard for 300,000 yuan. He moved abroad, worked hard, and earned 6 million yuan. When he returned, he found that the courtyard he had sold was now worth 80 million yuan, and he was so shocked that he was hospitalized. Or the story of Li Ka-shing’s son, Li Kai-tak, who in 2001 sold his 20% stake in the South China Morning Post to South Africa’s MIH Group for $12.6 million, missing out on what would become a $40 billion fortune. There are many more such stories… In any investment involving value-fluctuating assets like gold, jewelry, art, antiques, stocks, and other non-tangible items, countless people make regrettable decisions. Once an investment enters the market, it must follow certain trading rules. Bill Gates once said, real wealth = idea + time. This shows that acquiring wealth requires the test of time, and during this period, paper gains and losses are the greatest test of your vision and understanding. From the Bitcoin pizza story, we can learn at least the following lessons:

1.Rational investment has its limitations; recognizing a great opportunity is difficult.

It might seem like everyone is mocking a fool, but we are all ordinary people. Many say that if those 10,000 bitcoins hadn’t been used to buy pizza and were sold at their peak in 2017, they’d be worth at least $160 million. Everyone projects their

regrets onto Laszlo, thinking he was foolish and that they too missed out on becoming millionaires. However, if most people had lived Laszlo’s life, over 99% would have made the same choices he did. We often envy those who invested in Bitcoin early at $300-500, believing they all became wealthy. In reality, even among early digital currency adopters, only a few achieved financial freedom. Many bought lots of bitcoins but lost their private keys, or sold their bitcoins after modest gains, or exited the digital currency field entirely after missing out on Bitcoin’s big rise. The people who make money in digital currencies don’t rely on rational investment logic. Instead, they often possess a raw, unwavering belief that others can’t understand. If they are successful, it’s because they also have exceptional cognitive abilities and psychological resilience suited for the financial market. Li Lai once joked about his digital currency account, saying, “When I go to sleep, it’s worth over 200 million, and when I wake up, it might be less than 100 million.” Investors in this space have knowledge and a risk tolerance far beyond the norm. Last year, on February 25, Laszlo used the Lightning Network to spend another 0.00649 BTC to buy two more pizzas. Laszlo said he doesn’t regret missing out on billions and that the pizza was delicious.

This cloudy yet gentle state of mind is worthy of our admiration.

2. High-Multiplier Investment Opportunities Might Vanish as Low-Capital Wins Become Rare.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Many people talk about the Bitcoin pizza incident to encourage others to hold onto their coins, hoping to avoid a similar missed opportunity. This concern is somewhat misplaced. Bitcoin’s massive increase was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Since then, Ripple (XRP) has also surged dramatically, and in recent years, mainstream coins like Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Binance Coin (BNB) have seen substantial gains. Take Binance Coin (BNB), for example. It launched in July 2017, initially dipped to 0.6 yuan, and now has risen to 230 yuan. Although not as extreme as Bitcoin’s rise, it still offered a significant opportunity for wealth growth. Yet, how many people seized it? Forums are filled with regretful and frustrated comments from those who missed out, much like the reactions of people who missed Bitcoin’s early rise, echoing the sentiment: “That person looks so strange, he looks like a dog.” Will there be another Bitcoin-like investment opportunity in the future? Probably not. For most people, the issue isn’t just finding high-multiplier returns but discovering opportunities that require low initial capital. Unlike investments in real estate, stocks, or angel investments, early Bitcoin investments required minimal capital. While real estate and stocks can also offer significant returns, the required initial capital is beyond the reach of most people. For example, 20 years ago, a house in Beijing cost about 2,000 yuan per square meter, which seems very low now. However, at that time, monthly salaries were less than 1,000 yuan, making it unaffordable for most people. Today, many people recognize Bitcoin and want to invest, but the high price (over 50,000 yuan) deters them. Even if you tell them Bitcoin could reach 1 million or even 10 million yuan per coin, few would risk selling their house or car to invest in Bitcoin (and even if they did, it wouldn’t be advisable). Influenced by the Bitcoin pizza incident, many people now invest in various altcoins, hoping to achieve financial freedom with low-cost investments and the potential for huge returns. Unfortunately, these projects often lack Bitcoin’s key attributes: limited supply and strong consensus. Many high-return coins are not open-source, their codes can be easily altered, and some are even speculative schemes manipulated by insiders. Most investors end up losing their money, and these projects often rebrand and repeat the cycle, never giving investors a chance to recover. This underscores a harsh reality in digital currency investments: valuable investments require high capital, while low-capital options are often deceptive.

3.”Passive Holding” of Cryptocurrencies May No Longer Be the Best Strategy

Mainstream media still heavily promotes the idea of ultra-high returns from simply holding digital currencies, leading many people to mistakenly believe that investing in digital currencies requires a passive, long-term holding approach. They think that buying and selling only increases the risk of missing out or getting trapped in a bad investment.

While historical evidence suggests that simply holding cryptocurrencies can yield high returns, Bitcoin was originally envisioned as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, intended for transactions more than anything else. Laszlo’s famous Bitcoin pizza purchase highlighted Bitcoin’s transactional potential, making a significant contribution to its development. However, Bitcoin’s block capacity and confirmation delays make widespread transactional use challenging. Sidechains and the Lightning Network aim to address these issues. Bitcoin’s current price volatility stems from information asymmetry, with early investors selling their holdings to new investors. This process may continue for 3-5 years or longer. During this period, early investors may still see high premiums. Once the tokens are sufficiently distributed, Bitcoin’s role as a store of value may separate from its role as a medium of exchange. Bitcoin could truly become digital gold, while other cryptocurrencies, like stablecoins, dominate transactions. The Bitcoin pizza incident might become a legendary tale. Missing out on this era could indeed be disheartening. The next 3-5 years present an excellent opportunity to invest, but this doesn’t simply mean spending 5,000 yuan on 0.1 Bitcoin. Even if it grows 20 times, what then? A more meaningful approach is to invest while also gaining technical knowledge about the blockchain industry, recognizing opportunities where blockchain integrates into traditional applications, and finding security in improved industry understanding. For young investors looking to make a fortune in digital currencies, passive holding may no longer be the best approach. It’s wiser to learn financial knowledge, understand the patterns of cryptocurrency fluctuations, make strategic investments during bear markets (low cost, low risk), profit during bull markets (compound interest, expand principal), and cash out at the peak of the bull market. This is the right strategy for navigating the digital currency market. Daring to invest is a breakthrough in understanding; knowing when to sell is the skill needed to seize opportunities.

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