Tech

A joke between Elon Musk, McDonald’s has given rise to a new cryptocurrency

The entrepreneur had promised to go eat a McDonald's children's Happy Meal on TV if the fast-food chain accepted Dogecoin

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 28 Jan 2022 12:00PM

A joke between Elon Musk, McDonald’s has given rise to a new cryptocurrency
Elon Musk likely didn't think that his joke with McDonald's over Twitter would lead to new cryptocurrencies. – AFP pic, January 28, 2022

AT a time when financial news outlets can no longer ignore the Bitcoin market, you may have already wondered how these cryptocurrencies are created. Sometimes, they stem from a joke, such as that time Elon Musk dared McDonald's to accept Dogecoin. 

It all started on Twitter. Elon Musk, the high-flying CEO of Tesla Motors, reached out to McDonald's, daring it to accept Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency featuring the head of a shiba inu dog.

The entrepreneur, whose projects can be both visionary and fantastical, promised to go eat a McDonald's children's Happy Meal on TV if the fast-food chain accepted his dare. Elon Musk posted a series of tweets, often humorous, referring to the steep tumble in cryptocurrency markets.

Other Twitter users called on Bitcoin holders to find work at McDonald's to make up for their lost value. 

McDonald's Twitter account was quick to respond, beating Elon Musk at his own game. The chain proposed that Musk's company Tesla accept the "Grimacecoin," a cryptocurrency straight out of the imagination of McDonald's communication team.

Grimace is an imaginary purple character found on the packaging of some McDonald's food in the United States. 

The fast-food brand likely thought it had ended the conversation, but it obviously hadn't taken into account the ingenuity of internet users. A dozen new cryptocurrencies carrying the name "Grimacecoin" were created following McDonald's tweet.

One among them even climbed 285,000% in the space of a few hours. – ETX Daily Up, January 28, 2022

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