Crypto Twitter briefly caught fire on May 14 with the suggestion that the first real-world purchase made for Bitcoin might have been for a JPEG, not a pizza.
In a tweet from independent developer Udi Wertheimer, the Bitcoin proponent shared a screenshot showing what might have been the first Bitcoin purchase, even predating the infamous Bitcoin Pizza.
This Twitter space was FIRE
We discovered that:
the first EVER purchase with bitcoin was buying a JPEG for 500 BTC in February 2010
predates the famous 10,000 BTC pizza
satoshi himself helped facilitate the sale of JPEG
laser eye cult at all SHAMBLES pic.twitter.com/b6ESOkbf0i
โ Udi Wertheimerโโ๏ธ (@udiWertheimer) May 14, 2023
The posted screenshot is dated January 24, 2010, a full four months before Bitcoin Pizza Day, when Bitcoin developer Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoin for two pizzas in what is widely regarded as the first real-world purchase made with Bitcoin.
The screenshot shows a user named Sabunir trying to sell an image for 500 Bitcoin, which was worth about $1 at the time, on the Bitcoin Talk forum.
He even highlighted that Bitcoin pseudonym Founder Satoshi Nakamoto was trying to get involved to help make the sale happen.
However, the claim has been called into question, with a tweet from professional poker player turned cryptocurrency investor Mike McDonald pointing to a screenshot suggesting that the Bitcoin transaction could have been a donation, meaning that the JPEG was never "sold".
Not sure if it has dissipated yet but it looks like Sabunir's 500 btc was a donation rather than a sale.
He posted his address for his NFT on Jan 24, then posted it again on the btc logo thread on Feb 24. 24th feb 500 btc sent, 25th feb thank 2 people for 1/2 donations pic.twitter.com/6Rk9Ont9KU
โMike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) May 14, 2023
In a subsequent tweet, Wertheimer admitted that his original tweet may have been inaccurate, saying that although Sabunir put a JPEG up for sale at the price of 500 BTC and they received the same amount to his address a month later, "it is possible that the Se they sent 500 BTC as a donation for a different interactionโ and that the sale of the JPEG never took place.
Without Sabunir's in-person confirmation, it's unclear what the 500 BTC was transferred for, Wertheimer said.
Related: Bitcoin Ordinals Arrive on Binance NFT Marketplace in Latest Update
The rumor arises from the Bitcoin Ordinals Phenomenonwhich at the time of publication has seen more than 6.1 million images, videos and even tokens, through the BRC-20 token standard - minted on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Wertheimer has been a big proponent of Bitcoin NFTs since the protocol ordinals was created by Casey Rodamor on January 21 of this year, allowing users to "subscribe" new data to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Since then, Wertheimer has been working to drive a new wave of NFT enthusiasts into Bitcoin through an Ordinals project called Taproot Wizards, named after the Taproot soft fork which allowed the creation of the Ordinals protocol in the first place.
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