Pizza is well known all over the world the juicy cheesy meal has won many a heart. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is also breaking boundaries. The story of Bitcoin Pizza Day begins on May 22, 2010. It isn’t just a story of how one man bought a pizza for 10000 Bitcoin, it is a story of Bitcoin adoption.

Nine years ago, Laszlo Hanyecz traded 10,000 BTC for Pizza and has since been known as the Bitcoin Pizza guy. At that time one BTC was less than a dollar, but today, it is worth over a $7,000. Laszlo Hanyecz had announced on the bitcointalk forum that he was willing to pay 10,000 Bitcoins for the delivery of two Papa John’s pizzas. He wrote on the platform,

“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.”

At that time, all Hanyecz, a software engineer from Florida wanted was to get Pizza in exchange of BTC. Pretty soon, a British man took up Hanyecz’s offer. He offered to get the two pizzas for him at the price of $25 a piece. It was quite a bargain because at that time 10,000 Bitcoins were worth around $41. Nine months after exchanging his BTC for Pizza, Bitcoin became equal with the U.S. dollar, which means the two pizzas were now worth $10,000. Today, the price of one BTC is worth $7918.69 as at the time of writing.

While it is easy to make speculations as to why Hanyecz was willing to part with his digital currencies for Pizza, we cannot deny that he has made a contribution to adoption. It is important to note that the Bitcoin Pizza story is the first known real-world bitcoin transaction. Hanyecz claims that buying the pizza helped legitimize BTC. And although he doesn’t think about how wealthy he could have been if he had held onto his coins he doesn’t regret it. He claims that he is proud to have been a backer of Bitcoin and a proponent of its use in the real world.  

Today, Bitcoin use has exceed pizza purchase. Bitcoin and other altcoins can be used for varied purposes. A lot of businesses have adopted digital currencies as a means of transacting since the Bitcoin boom of 2017. You can now purchase a house with bitcoin and even receive your salary in Bitcoin. Today, May 22 has been named Bitcoin Pizza Day. In celebration of the day, crypto companies such as Huobi are celebrating Bitcoin pizza day with special offerings for their users.

Can you spend 10,000 BTC on Pizza? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Cryptocurrencies have come to stay and have found a way into the entertainment industry. Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, getting cryptocurrencies to go mainstream has been the aim of crypto and blockchain enthusiasts. A huge breakthrough has been made over the years with Bitcoin finding its way into the Merriam Webster Scrabble dictionary. Asides this, a couple of businesses now accept bitcoin. The importance of the media in creating awareness cannot be overemphasized. Now, the question revolves around whether crypto related movies have any positive impact on adoption or awareness.
A lot of documentaries have been made on cryptocurrencies since the inception of Bitcoin. The movie ‘Banking on Bitcoin’ is a documentary released in 2014 which explains the disruption bitcoin can bring into the financial system. The great thing about these movies is that they spend time educating people on different aspects of cryptocurrency. “Bitcoin in Uganda – Empowering people” is a 5 minutes crypto documentary created in 2018. This documentary shows the real power of cryptocurrency in remittances and cross-border transactions.
While most of these crypto movies are not mainstream, they do a lot in explaining the power of digital currencies. These documentaries chose different aspects of digital currency and focus on revealing more details about them. In fact, Bitcoin Big Bang, a 104-minute screen piece gives details on the Mt.Gox hack. The story focuses on the arrest of Mark Karpales, the CEO of Mt. Gox in Tokyo after the exchange was hacked and about 850,000 Bitcoins was reportedly stolen. The importance of documentaries such as this cannot be overemphasized

Going Mainstream Media With Crypto
Although there are a lot of low budget documentaries on cryptocurrency, high budget movies are beginning to spring up. ‘Deep Web’, a documentary about Ross Ulbricht trial on Silk Road had a budget of about $80,000 which was raised through Kickstarter. TV Shows such as Billions have episodes dedicated to cryptocurrency.
In fact, Dope is one of the first movies to accept Bitcoin. The movie which had a budget of $7,000,000 was the first movie to accept Bitcoin, this was due to a partnership between GoCoin, Lionsgate and Movie Tickets. Partnerships such as these go a long way to push crypto education mainstream. Also Hollywood blockbuster, ‘Crypto’ was released in April 2019, however, it was a movie about money laundering which involves crypto.

Is Crypto the Big Bad Wolf
As more movies begin to talk about cryptocurrency, the question remains if these movies are for crypto education or just on the move to portray crypto in a bad light. Crypto, the movie which features Beau Knapp and Kurt Russel promises to be a movie about digital currencies or is it? While many have praised the movie for the talent of the actors, a lot of persons are not so pleased with the script with many accusing it of scaring people away from Bitcoin.
Typical of every money laundering or compliance movie, the Russians are always the bad guys. However, does this movie portray crypto as a means of payment which is secure and fast or is it just an easy way for laundering money? While Hollywood still has a long way to go in crypto education and awareness, they must be praised for paying attention to details. From the representation of Ledger’s Nano in Billions to Crypto featuring images of a cryptocurrency exchange called Cryptocurrency market, progress is being made. However, anyone looking for cryptocurrency education will do well not to rely totally on these Hollywood movies.
This is why we have decided at Cryptotvplus to take it a step further at educating the populace on Crypto, its impact and what the future holds. Cryptotvplus will be reeling out interesting short movies bothering on crypto where anyone whether you understand the intricacies of cryptocurrencies or not will not only be educated but also become more than a spectator by participating in this revolutionary shift in the evolution of money and global finance. More on this in my next piece.

What topics or areas in Crypto would you like to see a short film done? Do you have any title in mind? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Luno has kicked off its cryptocurrency adoption program for Nigerian universities dubbed “Cryptocurrency Literacy Tour for Universities” launching out with the University of Lagos as the first of a series of tour where it will go about canvassing for the favourable adoption of cryptocurrency through knowledge in 6 Nigerian universities.

Luno, an exchange based off of South Africa was launched in 2013. It has since continued its growth trajectory by adding new users across 40 countries spanning more than 4 continents. It presently boasts of up to 3 million registered users across its platform with Nigeria as one of its biggest market.

Speaking on this development, Owenize Odia, the Country Manager for Luno said:

We are committed to educating our customers given the nature of the market and the tendency for people to fall into the wrong hands while online

With its debut tour kicking off in Unilag and having 300 youths in attendance, Luno is clearly taking the charge to bringing about perceptual shift and a favorable disposition towards cryptocurrencies which it says has not been properly understood. Through its representative Odia, it argues that the current financial systems was built for a non-digital age, ignoring the needs of the modern individual. Citing on the decentralized nature of a peer to peer digital currency like the bitcoin, it is not dependent on any central government or authority as obtainable with fiat.

She continued by saying

We are contributing by investing heavily into our Luno Learning Portal, which helps the public, the media, and other stakeholders educate themselves about the facts, opportunities, and risks in the cryptocurrency market,

In her post on LinkedIn, Odia assured the participants and other stakeholders that Luno would continue to focus on awareness initiatives such as this in Nigeria and Africa at large, thereby providing a reliable platform where just about anyone can visit either buy or sell cryptocurrencies.

Scheduled to Hold on the 3rd & 4th July by the BlockchainaUG’s Kwame Rugunda

The AfricaBlockchainUG19 Conference recently launched by the Blockchain Association of Ugandan’s Chairman Kwame Rugunda and some strategic partners is scheduled to hold in Kampala on the 3rd and 4th of July, 2019 according to a Tweet. This conference is expected to assist the Africa continent in tapping into the vast opportunities from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The conference according to data on the blockchain Uganda’s website featured will accommodate about 3000 delegates, 50 speakers and feature at least one Tech Expo. The conference is focused on Blockchain Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things, Drones technology, and Big Data.

The Blockchain Association of Uganda, BAU which is based in Kampala, Uganda is a membership organization that consists of individuals & organizations that are interested in promoting blockchain related technologies and capabilities.

The 2018 edition tagged “The Role of Blockchain Technology in Africa’s Transformation” featured key speakers such as the President of Uganda Yoweri K. Museveni, Former President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao, the Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Tumusiime- Mutebile.

Meanwhile, this conference is coming at a time just after the Blockchain Africa Ladies Conference in Lagos, Nigeria which saw the attendance of speakers travel  from the world coming over in April 2019 and its Second edition which will be holding in Ghana within the same quarter.

Uganda is one of the fastest blockchain growing nations in Africa and this can be attributed to the reception of the technology by the President as against those of other Africa countries. This reception is evident in the acceptance and activities of Top Cryptocurrency Exchange Binance in the Country.

More so, Uganda is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and currently home to over 45 million citizens which is an increase of 3.27% from the previous year of which 17.5% are urban dwellers. The population Density in the country is rated at 229 per kilometer square with a land area of 77,147sq miles.

Tickets are currently on sale on the website and it can be purchased here to secure a sit at the AfricaBlockchainUG19 Conference.