As a seasoned analyst with over two decades of experience in the digital assets sector, I must admit that the latest saga involving McDonald’s Instagram page and GRIMACE, a Solana memecoin, has left me both amused and concerned. The audacity of these hackers to leverage one of the world’s most recognized brands for their gain is nothing short of remarkable, especially in this era where social media dominates our daily lives.
It appears that hackers gained unauthorized access to McDonald’s Instagram account on August 21, using it to promote GRIMACE, a new meme-based cryptocurrency introduced through pump.fun on the Solana blockchain for marketing purposes.
On August 21st, a convergence took place between hamburgers and Solana (SOL) memecoins, as hackers manipulated McDonald’s Instagram account to advertise Solana-associated GRIMACE. Essentially, the cybercriminals exploited the global fast-food giant’s social media platform to link hamburgers with a Solana-based project.
McDonald’s Marketing Director, Guillaume Huin, seemingly launched a twofold campaign by discussing the memecoin on his social media platform as well.
1. Hackers referred to GRIMACE as “McDonald’s experiment on Solana,” and early investors, eagerly seeking the next big opportunity, jumped on board. According to pump.fun data, the memecoin rapidly reached a $20 million valuation. However, a quick rug pull caused GRIMACE’s market cap to plummet below $1 million just after.
1. A message emerged expressing gratitude to purchasers for investing approximately 700,000 dollars in Solana. This implies that the hackers managed to take only around 3.6% of the total value of the token. Just prior to its launch, several wallets invested about 6.2 SOL into GRIMACE, and shortly after, a McDonald’s post became active online. The owners of these addresses received approximately half a million dollars worth of Solana’s native currency within 28 minutes.
before they are deleted
— PostedGo 🔋 (@postedgo) August 21, 2024
The culprits deleted all McDonald’s posts promoting Solana’s memecoin GRIMACE, including Huin’s tweets on X. At press time, neither Huin nor McDonald had responded to commentary requests from crypto.news, or acknowledged the incident.
Pump.fun serves as a user-friendly platform for launching meme-themed cryptocurrencies on Solana. Over 1.8 million such tokens have been introduced via this protocol, although the majority have experienced decline. Since its debut in January, Pump.fun has amassed over $340 million in fees.
Tron (TRX) and its SunPump (SUN) platform were introduced as competitors to Solana and Pump.fun, aiming to capture a portion of the lively memecoin issuance market. In just 24 hours, the TRX-based meme economy has generated more income than Ethereum, showcasing its significant potential.
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2024-08-21 21:14