Instagram McDonald's Hacked, 'Grimace' Meme Coin Earns IDR 10 Billion Profit

Instagram McDonald's was hacked, the Grimace meme coin made a profit of IDR 10 billion (Photo; Doc. Avondale Construction)

JAKARTA - McDonald's official Instagram account was reportedly hacked on August 21. Hackers took advantage of this fast food giant's social media platform to promote a Solana-based meme coin called Grimace. This incident resulted in massive fraud in the crypto world, where the perpetrators managed to make a profit of up to 700.000 US Dollars (around Rp. 10 billion).

According to Crypto Potato information, the hack began with a change in the appearance of the McDonald's Instagram account, which was then used to market the Grimace token. The name of this token was taken from one of McDonald's famous fictional characters. Based on Bubblemaps' findings, the perpetrators managed to control 75% of the total supply of Grimace tokens through the Solana meme coin developer platform, pump.funct. They then distributed the token to about 100 different digital wallets.

During this scam, McDonald's Instagram account was changed to promote the token as a McDonald's experiment in Solana. The message conveyed through the account seemed to thank his followers, strengthening the impression that this was an official project.

In response to this incident, McDonald's said in a statement to the New York Post that it had resolved the issue and apologized to its fans for any inappropriate content that had been posted.

This case serves as a reminder for investors to be careful of newly launched meme coins, given the large number of volatile assets vulnerable to fraud. In Solana's ecosystem, pump.fun emerged as one of the leading platforms for the manufacture of meme coins. Since its launch on January 14, 2024, the popularity of pump.fun increased sharply in March, coining with the peak of the meme coin season.

Reports from K33 reveal that the platform is approaching a total revenue of 100 million US Dollars (approximately IDR 1.5 trillion), with more than 1.8 million meme coins being launched since the start of the year. Many think that the figure reflects the lack of seriousness in Solana's DeFi space, with the increasing number of meme coins created without a solid basis.

This event not only describes real threats faced by big brands in the digital era, but also highlights the high risks that exist in the crypto market, particularly those related to untested assets.