FIRST BITCOIN PIZZA DAY & ARTICLE, THE MALAWIAN EXPERIENCE

 

Pacharo Nyirenda 

Posted from Yakihonne. 1 month ago 

Technically you have to learn the Mathematical hash functions to divide a pizza in equal pieces. All bitcoiners know this that's why they celebrate the Bitcoin pizza day. Okay that's exaggerated but here's how we enjoyed our Bitcoin Pizza day in Malawi as I really put to test my first published article, crafting my left hand as I intend to be a Bitcoin blogger, so bonna petite, kalibu!

photo credits: BitcoinBoma Flavatos, Gateway Mall, Lilongwe

I'd like to toss it off by thanking you my reader. Its great opportunity for me to grab your attention. At times, i think breaking the ice to a new audience is a nerve craking task. Perfection is the standard and as they always say,  first impression has a long lasting impact, so here we go.  

Flavatos, Gateway Mall, the left ventricle of Lilongwe's heart Malawi, is where the aroma of a fresh bitcoin pizza sent waves of spattering mining energy, broadcasting to all nodes over the bitcoin network. 

Pizza crumbs spread over the table, folks and knives faced opposite directions, tomato sauce on the white plate had contours of a pizza passage. A half baked joke & its laughter could be heard by passersby's heading inside the mall. It was a chilly Saturday afternoon from outside but the soft drinks were a must to soften the well baked fragments of pizza which were being churned. All thanks to Laszlo Hanyecz.

Phones where right on the table as the photographer snapped every detail of moment with his camera,  trying to paint a bitcoin Monalisa,  innocence was in the youthful energetic bitcoiners who filled left and right seats in pairs.

Three long tables were joined together making a table tennis appear slightly shorter but the waitress had to check for any empty slot to squeeze a chair in. We were twenty three with the expection of thirty but the space was just plentiful. 

Flavatos was ready and set. The waitress with a welcoming smile whispered right besides where i was standing that the pizza is ready. I had to ask her to HODL for a moment, we were just setting up the laptop which we would use to connect & listen to a presentation by John Miller, a distant relative and a bitcoiner we had talked of for weeks.

As if I am an expert at analysing charts like a Wall street analyst, the looks of faces signalled hunger and no chance of patience. They were eagerly waiting and when I looked at my wrist, I realised we didn't have much more time rather than start off. I clapped my hands to capture everyone's attention. I was excited to welcome everyone & i really appreciated everyone for sparing their time to come and joining us.

There was a buzz of excitement. All eyes were glued to me as i shared pleasantries to the co-founder of Bitcoin Boma, Grant Gombwa for pulling the strings. Amongst us we were also graced with the presence of the founder of Women of Satoshi, Yankho Ngoleka who i happened to be facing directly to my right hand side. He threw a nod in acknowledgement.

John Miller sponsored Bitcoin Boma for the Bitcoin Pizza day. It was an honor for me to introduce him. When all was set, i could visibly see his ear to ear smile on the webcam. He was currently in the US & was waiting to deliver a speech. At this moment, the hunger trickled down from my brain to the stomach as i signalled pizza alert. I handed it over to Grant who quickly thanked everyone and threw it like a free throw shot on the free throw line to John Miller. 

There was genuine appreciation as he set the floor ready for John Miller to grace and unwrap the Pizza speech. John took to the google meet space as we all fixed our eyes on our phones. He delivered a twenty-minute presentation that would make a fresh graduate take off his hat and consider if what they learn't in their last four years in university was worth its purchasing power.

There was a lot of knowledge to digest, highlighting the eminent nails to the coffin for the US dollar. The chart numbers revealed the patterns of history for every thirty or fourty years of a new monetory system. He further displayed how the purchasing power of the dollar has declined since 1921  all the way to post the Nixon shock, when the dollar was pegged off from gold. 

He spoke with authority on why bitcoin is the perfect money ever discovered. He encouraged Bitcoiners to continue educating and using bitcoin as money. He encouraged the audience to reflect and never be afraid to relearn, having an open mind to learning Bitcoin.

John Millers speech was like listening to the wisdom of an old man giving the torch of knowledge to young ones. Much emphasis was given on how Bitcoin's limited supply creates ultimate scarcity which is an important quality of money, a store of value. 

The waitress brought white, clean plates with some folks wrapped in a white napkin tissue that appeared like Satoshi's Bitcoin white paper. The pizza was ready to be served. The smiles were all over as hands rubbed, ready hash the Pizza. John wrapped up in a cosy style by saying, "keep stacking Sats and avoiding shitcoins." 

John Miller on a online call with Bitcoin Boma and participants 

The attendees were in pairs as the plates moved in lightning speed. The Pizza came in full sized round plates circulating across the table as a distributed copy of a ledger does on a Bitcoin network. Mining the pizza had to be done. 

I once again stood and thanked John Miller for the speech. This time i could feel the enzymes multiply right in jaws.

 I saw the pizza being cut into slices, whilst others took sips of their favourite soft drinks as smiles spread far left, right. 

The chewing sound was amplified to my ears. The moment gave the impression as a big family reunion, celebrating companionship and life. The aroma teased the mind, bubbles from the Fanta bottles moved from the bottom floating up.

As the pizza halving begun, I reminded everyone of how significant this moment was when Laszlo Hanyecz first made an offer of 10,000 BTC to buy Pizza. This act proved the use case of bitcoin as a medium of exchange and a resort of finality between two counterparts without any middleman.

It was a moment that also reminded us of how we used to have free markets. In a free market, counterparts chose their own commodities of exchange and each exchanged for what the other counterpart needed or wanted. If a consesus was reached, then a finality was arrived. The voluntary act exchange was achieved each satisfied of ones accomplishments without any intermediaries. Those were the golden great days of the old free markets.

By the time I was making concluding remarks, my counterparts had already mined half of the pizza on the table. 

I was about to pop a question of where my share was when I saw three more full plates of pizza broadcasted & waiting for verification on the MEMpool table. At this moment, i knew i only had one job to do, get the block of pizza, mine it and reward myself some Bitcoins.  I kept my mouth and hands busy. 

One surprising moment fired us with excitement. Grant stood up and surprised everyone by introducing his new friend from Kenya. He said they had met in Mulanje and how they came across each other was purely a coincidence of wants. 

Rather than explaining, he let our new Kenyan explorer share the fascinating story of how he buys different arts and crafts and how he has challenges in finding a common currency to use a medium of exchange due to fluctuating exchange rates as well as sending and receiving value cross boarders. 

He explained how he has always wanted to find a platform with less hassles that enables sending funds in Kenya and back in Malawi but couldn't find means of translating our local currency into the Kenyan shilling without going through exchanges that charge very high fees. 

He provided further insight on how how  sometimes it takes days or even weeks for a transaction to complete. So how could these two opposite worlds tie together? Well, whilst in Mulanje he saw a "Bitcoin accepted here" plaque hanging on a local shop where Grant Gombwa resides. 

Taken by surprise, here recalled how Bitcoin was very popular in Kenya. He said bitcoin was a common digital currency used in Kenya especially the youths. He further went on stating most youths in Kenya use Bitcoin in their everyday life through a meduim known as Tando. This application allows for the spending of Bitcoin without necessarilly going through an intermediary using one's lightning Bitcoin wallet. It was this moment that Grant exchanged his Bitcoin for the equivalent amount that was needed in Kenyan shilling and the transaction happened seemlessly. 

taking pictures after some pizza

They stood and demonstrated how it is done. It was this moment that created a friendship bond and in no time, our Kenyan friend was oranged pilled on the benefits of also accepting Bitcoin for his arts and crafts. He admitted, having a lightning wallet in his phone has greatly transformed the way he does business and has a better outreach for his customers that are outside Kenya.

This day was particulary amazing. Seeing John Miller, the Pizza and our new friend, It couldn't get better. Clearly the sky went orange as Bitcoin showed us it is more than just an electronic currency. It is also an instrument of the unification of humanity. 

As i take this last bite, i hope you enjoyed this piece of writing. I look forward to see you in my next article as I continue to polish my writing skills. 

Pacharo Nyirenda.

re-edited 29/07/2025. 

Bitcoinboma, An amature writer but soon to be a pro writer & blogger!