Elon Musk challenges McDonald’s to accept dogecoin

The world’s richest man has thrown down a challenge to McDonald’s to begin accepting meme cryptocurrency dogecoin as payment.

Elon Musk has called on McDonald’s to accept dogecoin as payment.

“I will eat a Happy Meal on TV if @McDonalds accepts dogecoin,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

The world’s richest man has been a vocal proponent of the meme cryptocurrency, with his tweets often causing huge moves in its price.

I will eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2022

Dogecoin rose as high as 7 per cent on Tuesday, and is currently trading 3.8 per cent higher over the past 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.

Musk also sent the price of dogecoin soaring last month when he announced Tesla would begin accepting the crypto as payment for some merchandise.

Conversely, an “unfunny” appearance by Musk on Saturday Night Live last year where he described dogecoin as a “hustle” caused the price to plummet.

how are you doing people who run crypto twitter accounts

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) January 24, 2022

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have suffered heavy losses over the past few weeks.

Musk’s tweet to McDonald’s came after the fast-food giant tweeted about the market sell-off.

“How are you doing people who run crypto Twitter accounts,” McDonald’s wrote.

Responding to Musk’s offer, McDonald’s later wrote, “Only if @Tesla accepts grimacecoin.”

Elon Musk is a fan of dogecoin. Picture: iStock

Tesla last year bought $US1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, and in March said it would start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment.

But Musk backtracked in May, raising concerns about the environmental impact of bitcoin’s energy consumption.

Bitcoin has lost nearly half its value since its November 10 peak of over $US68,000, and is currently trading at $US36,734.

Dogecoin, which peaked at $US0.6848 in May last year, has lost around 80 per cent of its value since then to $US0.1435.

The cryptocurrency was originally created as a joke in 2013 by US software engineer Billy Markus and Australian entrepreneur Jackson Palmer.

They used a Japanese dog, a shiba inu, as the coin’s mascot.