Community Angry After Coinbase Turns to USDC to Celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day

In an attempt to demonstrate cheap USDC payments, Coinbase faced backlash from the Bitcoin community for not selling pizzas for BTC during Bitcoin Pizza Day.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coin base came under fire from Bitcoin community for its unconventional celebration of Bitcoin Pizza Day, choosing to sell pizzas exclusively to USDC instead of Bitcoin, triggering a wave of criticism.

On May 22, Coinbase kicked off its celebration by launching the Coinbase Pizza Truck in New York, offering slices of pizza for $1. However, the only problem was that the exchange only accepted USDC, a stablecoin issued by CircleCoinbase longtime friendas payment, generating controversy among Bitcoin enthusiasts.

While Coinbase’s action may have been intended to showcase the efficiency and transparency of stablecoin payments, the decision to exclude Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency celebrated at the time, fueled furious outrage within the crypto community.

Despite the backlash, neither Coinbase nor its founder Brian Armstrong had issued any public statements on the matter at the time of reporting. Former TechCrunch reporter Jacquelyn Melinek observed in an X post that she understands “the principle” of selling pizzas for Bitcoin, but tried to defend Coinbase’s focus on USDC, citing lower transaction costs for companies.

“Some people have complained about Coinbase selling pizza with USDC instead of bitcoin on Bitcoin Pizza Day. I understand the principle, but there’s a bigger message here: buying pizza with USDC makes the transaction costs for businesses a few cents in comparison with the standard card rate of 3%.”

Jacquelyn Melinek

However, critics have argued that Coinbase could also have accepted Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network, a layer 2 solution known for cheaper transaction fees, which the exchange has recently been promoting as a form of “low-cost BTC transfers”.

Bitcoin Pizza Day celebrates the first documented commercial transaction using Bitcoin.

On May 22, 2010, a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC (currently valued at around $700 million) for two pizzas, making it one of the first real-world transactions involving the cryptocurrency. The event is now celebrated annually as Bitcoin Pizza Day, symbolizing the beginning of Bitcoin’s journey towards popular acceptance as a form of currency.

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