The seller received assistance from Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, although it is unclear if the artist truly made the “sale.”
On May 14, Crypto Twitter was filled with excitement as a suggestion arose that the very first purchase made using Bitcoin might have been for a JPEG image rather than pizza.
Independent developer Udi Wertheimer shared a tweet with a screenshot suggesting that he had discovered a possible earlier Bitcoin purchase, even before the well-known Bitcoin Pizza transaction.
During a lively discussion on Twitter Spaces, we made an interesting discovery:
It appears that the first-ever purchase made with Bitcoin was actually for a JPEG, not the famous 10,000 BTC pizza.
What’s more, it seems that Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, played a role in facilitating this JPEG sale.
This revelation has caused quite a stir, leaving those who sported laser-eye profile pictures in a state of confusion.
The screenshot shared on social media is from Jan. 24, 2010, which is four months before the famous Bitcoin Pizza Day. On that day, Laszlo Hanyecz, a Bitcoin developer, famously bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin, marking the widely recognized first real-world purchase using Bitcoin.
The screenshot displays a user named Sabunir who tried to sell a picture on the Bitcoin Forum Bitcointalk for 500 Bitcoin. Back then, the Bitcoin’s value was approximately $1, making the picture worth a small amount in comparison.
The screenshot also revealed that Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, was actively participating and attempting to assist in the successful completion of the sale.
However, doubts have arisen regarding this claim, as professional poker player turned crypto investor Mike McDonald shared a tweet with a screenshot that implies the Bitcoin transaction could have been a donation rather than an actual sale, indicating that the JPEG might not have been sold after all.
It is not yet clear if the situation has been clarified, but it appears that the 500 BTC received by Sabunir may have been a donation rather than a sale. Sabunir initially posted his address for the NFT on January 24 and then shared it again in the Bitcoin logo thread on February 24. On February 24, 500 BTC was sent to his address, and on February 25, he expressed gratitude to two individuals for their donations.
In a later tweet, Wertheimer admitted that his initial tweet might have been incorrect. While Sabunir did list a JPEG for sale at a price of 500 BTC and received the same amount in their address a month later, it is now believed that the 500 BTC might have been sent as a donation for a different reason, and the actual sale of the JPEG might not have taken place.
Since there is no direct confirmation from Sabunir in person, it is still uncertain what the purpose of the 500 BTC transfer was, as stated by Wertheimer.
The rumor arises during the Bitcoin Ordinals trend, where over 6.1 million images, videos, and tokens have been created and stored on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Wertheimer has been a strong supporter of Bitcoin NFTs since the creation of the Ordinals protocol by Casey Rodamor on January 21 of this year. The protocol enables users to add new data to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Wertheimer has been actively promoting the adoption of NFTs on Bitcoin through a project called Taproot Wizards, which is based on the Taproot soft fork. The Taproot soft fork made it possible to create the Ordinals protocol, and Wertheimer is now striving to attract more NFT enthusiasts to Bitcoin through this initiative.
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