Of course, the excitement could prove warranted. Potentially. Conceivably. In one universe out of many. But even if McDonald’s desires to expand its consumer base, cryptocurrencies may prove too volatile for the company to readily accept in place of government-backed tender.
Part of the issue is some actions taken by Elon Musk. As The Street writes, Musk’s outspoken approval of dogecoin as the “people’s crypto” set off investment that caused the currency’s value to grow by 6000%. It has since dropped again with the occasional spike spurred by Musk-related activities, like when he made Tesla merch available for dogecoin payments. As of writing, Crytponator pegs dogecoin’s value at $0.15. Though on January 7, it was only worth $0.07. McDonald’s may not want to monitor Musk’s moods for the sake of an alternative form of payment.
Proponents would note that these fluctuations are just part of the gains in public trust. So, if McDonald’s were to start accepting Dogecoin, it would spike violently again. But more people would trust it, theoretically leading to greater stability in the long run. They don’t even need to go wholesale with it. Burger King Brazil began to accept the coin for dog treats in July and later partnered with Robinhood to distribute dogecoin via sweepstakes (per Coinbase). A gimmick would probably win the crytpo crowd over and work towards legitimizing the coin.