The Bitcoin Bubble: A $6,000 Pokmon Card

The following is an excerpt from our Macro Intelligence Report (MIR). If you’d like to learn more about the MIR, click here.
On May 22nd 2010, computer programmer Laszlo Hanyecz ordered two Papa John’s pizzas. They were Hawaiian style. He paid $60,000,000. According to Laszlo, they were your typical Papa John’s, and tasted only ‘okay…’
In 2013, a Brit by the name of James Howells accidentally threw away a laptop worth over $45,000,000. He realized what he’d done a few months later and went down to the landfill to dig through mountains of garbage to no avail. James says he’s now ‘at the point where it’s either laugh about it or cry about it… Why aren’t I out there with a shovel now? I think I’m just resigned to never being able to find it.’
In 2009, a Norwegian named Christopher Koch made a $27 investment on a whim. The investment ‘annoyed’ his then girlfriend who thought it was a waste of money. Today, his $27 investment is worth $30,000,000. Chris now owns property in Toyen, the wealthiest neighborhood in Oslo. He has a new girlfriend.
You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Who are these guys that would drop millions on a pizza or somehow forget about buku money stored on a laptop?
The common thread here is bitcoin – the first and most popular cryptocurrency.
I was having some fun with the numbers. You see, Laszlo didn’t really spend $60M on two Papa John’s pizzas. He paid $25 for them, but in bitcoins. 10,000 of them to be exact. It was the first recorded merchant transaction in cryptocurrencies ever.

This post was published at FinancialSense on 11/07/2017.

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