- After McDonald's joked about Tesla accepting a fake "grimacecoin," real versions started trading.
- One of them surged more than 285,000% in the hours after the tweet from McDonald's, CoinDesk found.
- At least 10 other versions came to fruition following the Twitter exchange.
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McDonald's response to Elon Musk's push for the fast-food chain to accept dogecoin caused a new cryptocurrency called grimacecoin to surge more than 285,000%.
The Tesla boss tweeted on Tuesday that he would eat a McDonald's Happy Meal on TV, if the restaurant started accepting dogecoin as a form of payment. In response, McDonald's tweeted, "Only if @tesla accepts grimacecoin." The tweet included a crypto version of Grimace, the company's round, purple mascot often featured in marketing materials.
In true crypto fashion, the meme spurred a meme token.
According to CoinDesk, one newly minted grimacecoin surged as much as 285,641% in the hours following the tweet. About 10 other versions of grimacecoin started trading on the Binance Smart Chain network alone, CoinDesk found.
McDonald's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the matter. To Fortune, the company said it does not have an affiliation with any grimacecoin.
McDonald's entered the crypto conversation earlier this week when digital assets like bitcoin dropped as the broader market slumped. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts joked on Twitter that the volatile price of bitcoin was starting to look like the McDonald's golden arches, while others said they'd have to apply for jobs flipping burgers if crypto trading didn't work out, Fortune reported previously.
El Salvador's president and bitcoin evangelist, Nayib Bukele, even tweeted a photo of himself wearing a McDonald's hat and name tag. Then Musk, known for pushing the shiba inu-inspired meme coin, joined in with the Happy Meal tweet.
So far this year, bitcoin has fallen about 24% and is trading below $40,000, a stark drop from the $69,000 peak in November last year. The slump comes as the broader market itself has fallen into a rut amid a hawkish Federal Reserve and Russia-Ukraine tensions.