17 Years Ago Bitcoin Was First Sold for $5.02

On October 12, 2009, the first known transaction exchanging Bitcoin for fiat money took place when Finnish developer Martti Malmi sold 5050 BTC for $5.02 via PayPal. As of October 13, 2026, at a rate of $83,660 per Bitcoin, these coins would be worth approximately $422.5 million. In October 2009, the cryptocurrency market was still undeveloped, and Malmi sold the coins to a user under the pseudonym NewLibertyStandard, who was creating one of the first services for exchanging Bitcoin. This transaction established the first known market valuation of the cryptocurrency through exchange for regular money, with a price of about $0.001 per coin. The first transaction on the Bitcoin network occurred on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto transferred 10 BTC to Hal Finney. A landmark event was Bitcoin Pizza Day on May 22, 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, which were then valued at about $41. As of October 13, 2026, those 10,000 BTC would be worth around $836.6 million. The transactions of 2009-2010 became significant milestones in Bitcoin's history, demonstrating that it could be valued in regular money and used to purchase goods.

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