Elon Musk dares McDonald’s to accept his ‘favorite’ crypto

Tesla billionaire and meme-generator Elon Musk tweeted the pledge on Tuesday in the wake of the world’s most recognizable fast food chain reaching out to the cryptocurrency community earlier this week.

“I will eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin,” he wrote, eliciting mixed reactions.

Some framed his enthusiasm as “so cringe”, knocking the coin or even accusing him of setting a bad nutritional example, though others, quoting McDonald’s slogan, responded they were “lovin’ it” and seconded Musk’s recommendation to the fast food chain.

“I will eat the TV if @McDonalds accepts #Dogecoin,” one user responded. 

McDonald’s – specifically, working there – is also a long-running joke among the crypto community, whose members often joke about having to get a job at the fast food chain when their coin of choice takes a nosedive in value.

The company’s Twitter account has apparently picked up on the trend, as it asked, “how are you doing people who run crypto twitter accounts?” on Monday as the value of most coins took a dive alongside market stocks.

That tweet was apparently Musk’s inspiration for suggesting the fast food giant accept Dogecoin, a meme in cryptocurrency form which had languished as a relatively obscure coin before the billionaire began talking it up. His electric vehicle company, Tesla, accepts it as a form of payment for some products, even while shunning the more popular Bitcoin, which was briefly accepted last year but has since been discontinued as a payment method.

The price of Dogecoin surged 8% following Musk’s tweet, according to CoinMarketCap, though its value apparently settled a bit as the excitement wore off. 

McDonald’s, meanwhile, has taken Musk’s payment advice under consideration. The chain replied with a tweet thanking the billionaire for his interest and letting him know that they “continuously evaluate the payments experience.”