McDonald’s Instagram Page Hacked to Promote Solana Scam

As a researcher with a background in both finance and technology, I find the recent incident involving the hack of McDonald’s Instagram account to promote a fake Solana-based token, named “GRIMACE,” quite intriguing. This isn’t my first rodeo in the wild west of cryptocurrency, so I can recognize the red flags from a mile away.


McDonald’s official Instagram account, belonging to the well-known fast food corporation, was taken over by hackers who used it to advertise a fictitious Solana cryptocurrency token.

The hacked account announced a cryptocurrency called “GRIMACE.” 

Following an astonishingly swift increase, the market value of the suspect token reached approximately $30 million. Yet, this valuation plummeted dramatically once it was revealed that the cryptocurrency was indeed a fraudulent scheme.

As a researcher, I found it remarkable that even Guillaume Huin, the Market Director for a renowned fast food corporation, experienced an account breach, using it to promote an alleged “McDonald’s experiment” on the Solana platform.

1. False social media messages were taken down. Regrettably, a rug pull occurred, leading to a suspected hacker making off with up to $700,000 in Solana tokens.

As per information from Pump.fun, the token’s current market capitalization is only $1 million following a significant drop in value.

“Grimacecoin” makes a comeback 

Grimace, a big, round, purple creature originally depicted as villainous in the 70s, later transformed into a friendly character resembling an anthropomorphic taste bud. Last year, McDonald’s launched a popular berry-flavored milkshake called the “Grimace Shake,” which went viral.

According to an article by U.Today, McDonald’s grabbed attention when it playfully proposed that Tesla should accept “Grimacecoin,” a fictional cryptocurrency, in response to Elon Musk’s request for the fast food chain to adopt Dogecoin support.

The innocuous joke also led to the launch of a Grimace token on Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which posted massive gains in no time before inevitably crashing down. 

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2024-08-21 21:45