Hackers breached McDonald’s Instagram page on Aug. 21 to market GRIMACE, a memecoin launched on the Solana blockchain.

Hackers Use McDonald’s Instagram to Promote GRIMACE

On Aug. 21, hackers compromised McDonald’s Instagram page to promote GRIMACE, a memecoin based on Solana. The incident also saw McDonald’s marketing director Guillaume Huin posting about the memecoin on his social media, indicating a coordinated attack.

Hackers presented GRIMACE as “a McDonald’s experiment on Solana,” tempting early investors looking for the next big opportunity. According to pump.fun data, the memecoin quickly reached a $20 million valuation before a rapid decline brought it below $1 million in market cap.

Financial Impact and Investor Losses

A message from the hackers thanked buyers for $700,000 worth of Solana, indicating they siphoned off less than 4% of the token’s total value. Two minutes before the launch, multiple wallets invested 6.2 SOL in GRIMACE, and the McDonald’s post went live. These addresses managed to collect nearly $500,000 in Solana’s native currency within 28 minutes.

“Hackers managed to collect nearly $500,000 in Solana’s native currency within 28 minutes.”

The culprits deleted all posts from McDonald’s Instagram and Huin’s tweets promoting GRIMACE. Neither Huin nor McDonald’s has responded to requests for comment.

About Pump.fun and the Memecoin Market

Pump.fun is a user-friendly memecoin launchpad on the Solana blockchain. Developers have launched 1.8 million meme-inspired tokens using this platform. Despite most tokens crashing, Pump.fun has generated over $340 million in fees since its inception in January.

In competition with Solana and Pump.fun, Tron launched its memecoin platform SunPump. The TRX-based meme ecosystem has generated more revenue than Ethereum in a 24-hour period.

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