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How hackers raised $700,000 thanks to an unexpected advertising campaign on Instagram.
On Wednesday, hackers hacked McDonald's official Instagram account, staging a surprise ad campaign for meme coin Grimace. The attackers not only published a fake post, but also edited the profile of a well-known fast food chain.
Grimace, named after the purple mascot of McDonald's, instantly caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community. The character itself appeared back in 1971. He, according to the creators, personifies a milkshake.
Around 11:30 a.m. ET, the hackers posted an intriguing post: "McDonald's experiment on Solana." Later, the inscription "thank you for $700,000 in Solana" appeared on the Instagram profile. Probably, by this, the attackers hinted at the profit received from manipulating the meme coin rate. However, it is not clear whether this is true or not.
The Solana blockchain platform, on which the token is based, is famous for its wide ecosystem of memes and is very popular among cryptocurrency traders. BlockChain App Factory, a company specializing in the development of meme coins on Solana, emphasizes that it is this platform that attracts the most active players in the crypto market.
Thanks to this stunt, the market capitalization of the Grimace token made a dizzying rise to $20 million, after which it plummeted below the $1 million mark. Such data is provided by the Pump.fun website, a platform for creating meme coins on Solana.
McDonald's managed to regain control of its account in the shortest possible time - in just half an hour. However, there were still traces of the break-in. Specialist Dominique Alvieri noted on social network X that even after restoring access to the account, it retained a mysterious link to Telegram.
The history of the Grimace token began back in March 2022 on the Doge blockchain, but then it "moved" to Arbitrum One. According to the official Grimace Coin website, the token was born from correspondence between Elon Musk and McDonald's on Twitter.
The creators of Grimace Coin emphasize that in fact their brainchild has nothing to do with McDonald's Corporation. They assure that they never use the copyrighted image of Grimace for commercial purposes, but are always ready for dialogue and cooperation with the fast food chain.
Such incidents with meme coins are no longer new. Most recently, last month, the account of the American pop diva Doja Cat in X was attacked by hackers who were promoting a meme coin $DOJA based on the same Solana.
One of the most notorious meme coins, Dogecoin, which is closely associated with Elon Musk, also did not avoid problems with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Regulators accused Musk of manipulating the market and deceiving investors, dubbing his initiative a pyramid scheme.
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, back in 2021, when meme coins were just starting to gain traction, aptly noted: "If a large enough number of people in the community appreciate something for its cute look or funny meme, then it gains value."
Currently, the Dogecoin case is still in court proceedings. Meanwhile, in April this year, Zhao received a four-month prison sentence for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws while working at Binance. While this verdict is not directly related to meme coins, it clearly illustrates the growing attention of regulators to the booming cryptocurrency industry.
Source
On Wednesday, hackers hacked McDonald's official Instagram account, staging a surprise ad campaign for meme coin Grimace. The attackers not only published a fake post, but also edited the profile of a well-known fast food chain.
Grimace, named after the purple mascot of McDonald's, instantly caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community. The character itself appeared back in 1971. He, according to the creators, personifies a milkshake.
Around 11:30 a.m. ET, the hackers posted an intriguing post: "McDonald's experiment on Solana." Later, the inscription "thank you for $700,000 in Solana" appeared on the Instagram profile. Probably, by this, the attackers hinted at the profit received from manipulating the meme coin rate. However, it is not clear whether this is true or not.
The Solana blockchain platform, on which the token is based, is famous for its wide ecosystem of memes and is very popular among cryptocurrency traders. BlockChain App Factory, a company specializing in the development of meme coins on Solana, emphasizes that it is this platform that attracts the most active players in the crypto market.
Thanks to this stunt, the market capitalization of the Grimace token made a dizzying rise to $20 million, after which it plummeted below the $1 million mark. Such data is provided by the Pump.fun website, a platform for creating meme coins on Solana.
McDonald's managed to regain control of its account in the shortest possible time - in just half an hour. However, there were still traces of the break-in. Specialist Dominique Alvieri noted on social network X that even after restoring access to the account, it retained a mysterious link to Telegram.
The history of the Grimace token began back in March 2022 on the Doge blockchain, but then it "moved" to Arbitrum One. According to the official Grimace Coin website, the token was born from correspondence between Elon Musk and McDonald's on Twitter.
The creators of Grimace Coin emphasize that in fact their brainchild has nothing to do with McDonald's Corporation. They assure that they never use the copyrighted image of Grimace for commercial purposes, but are always ready for dialogue and cooperation with the fast food chain.
Such incidents with meme coins are no longer new. Most recently, last month, the account of the American pop diva Doja Cat in X was attacked by hackers who were promoting a meme coin $DOJA based on the same Solana.
One of the most notorious meme coins, Dogecoin, which is closely associated with Elon Musk, also did not avoid problems with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Regulators accused Musk of manipulating the market and deceiving investors, dubbing his initiative a pyramid scheme.
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, back in 2021, when meme coins were just starting to gain traction, aptly noted: "If a large enough number of people in the community appreciate something for its cute look or funny meme, then it gains value."
Currently, the Dogecoin case is still in court proceedings. Meanwhile, in April this year, Zhao received a four-month prison sentence for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws while working at Binance. While this verdict is not directly related to meme coins, it clearly illustrates the growing attention of regulators to the booming cryptocurrency industry.
Source
