Fake Grimacecoin Jumps 285,000% After McDonald’s’ Tesla Joke

It seems there’s just no end to pump-and-dump scams for useless meme-based tokens. This time, McDonald’s is guilty of promoting a joke coin based on its fluffy purple McDonaldland character, Grimace.

In a January 26 tweet (above) replying to Elon Musk, the fast-food company joked that if Tesla were to accept payments in Grimacecoin, then it would take Musk up on his offer to eat a Happy Meal on TV if McDonald’s would accept Dogecoin. Then the madness began.

Musk Sparks Grimace-Themed Buying Frenzy

Shortly after the tweet, several Grimacecoin-themed tokens were created across a handful of different blockchains by crypto opportunists wanting to cash in on the buying frenzy that followed.

On the Binance Smart Chain (BSC)-based DEX PancakeSwap, the Grimace token surged as much as 285,641 percent in a matter of hours. Trading started at US$0.0007 and reached U$2 before plummeting to US$0.60. It managed to reach a market capitalisation of nearly U$2 million at its peak and somewhat surprisingly hasn’t yet crashed to zero, bouncing between US$1 and US$1.40 at the time of writing. There are currently 2,005 addresses holding Grimace, according to BSCscan.

None of the Grimace tokens has anything to do with McDonald’s officially. On the BSC network alone, there were 10 different Grimacecoins. Other networks with Grimace-themed tokens included Polygon, Ethereum, Avalanche and Fantom, which all surged as apes rushed in.

Some Investors Will Literally Buy Anything

The launch of Grimacecoin shows that some crypto investors really will buy just about anything, even a token that has zero fundamental value or purpose whatsoever.

The power Elon Musk has over hyping the crypto market is quite ludicrous. Whenever Musk mentions anything about Dogecoin, for example, it causes the price to pump. Similarly, his comments around whether or not Tesla would accept payments in Bitcoin also set the charts off in one direction or another. It’s interesting, if not downright concerning.