₿aby, You Can ₿uy My Car

The first car bought for Bitcoin will be signed by Bitcoin veterans and auctioned off for a good cause during Bitcoin 2023 in Miami.

The first car that was ever bought for Bitcoin was not a Lamborghini, but a less fancy Toyota Prius. While a car dealer in Newport Beach, California, sold its first Lambo in December 2013, Bitcoin early adopter Michael “Rassah” Tozoni purchased a used Toyota Prius in February 2013, when the Bitcoin price was around 22 US dollars, for 1000 Bitcoin.

This happened at around the same time when the 2013 Bitcoin rallye started. At the end of the year, these 1000 Bitcoin had a value of more than 1 million dollar. At Bitcoin’s All-Time-High in November 2021, they rose to more than 67 million dollar – you could buy many brand new Lamborghinis for that!

The Lamborghini has become a synonym for newly acquired Bitcoin wealth. The popular expression “When Lambo?” means: when do you own enough Bitcoins to buy a Lamborghini? The real legend, however, is the Toyota Prius, which mysteriously paved the way for Bitcoin’s growth.

When Coindesk first published an article about this car in September 2019, the latest and most extreme Bitcoin bull run so far began. When the car was totalled in summer 2022, the Bitcoin price crashed, too. After a team of Bitcoin enthusiasts bought the wreck and restored it, the Bitcoin price rose again by nearly 50%! A mere coincidence? Or a sign from the universe that this car is taking Bitcoin to the moon?

After having visited many Bitcoin conferences over the years, this famous Toyota Prius will be at the centre of attention again at the big Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami in May. It will be signed by many Bitcoin veterans (including me), decorated by a well known artist and auctioned off. The proceedings will go to the Free Ross campaign, which has the goal to free Bitcoin pioneer Ross Ulbricht from jail.

Ross was sentenced to several lifetimes for running the free market website Silk Road that accepted Bitcoin. You could buy drugs on Silk Road that were claimed “illegal” by the US government, but Ross never committed a real crime that harmed anyone, so his imprisonment is unjustified.

If you want to preserve this Bitcoin legend and do good, come to Miami in May 2023 and celebrate the Toyota Prius with a few thousand other Bitcoin lovers!

You may take part in the auction here.

By Aaron Koenig