More Than a Meme? Bitcoin Tops $100K as the McRib Returns

BBQ sauce, pickles, onions, and pork: A day after McDonald’s fan-favorite McRib sandwich returned to U.S. restaurants, Bitcoin’s price topped $100,000 for the first time ever.

Were these ingredients (plus a dash of dextrose sugar) necessary to cement Bitcoin’s record-setting climb? Maybe, probably not, but the unusual correlation between the sandwich’s availability and financial market strength hit the spot Wednesday.

The irony wasn’t lost on McDonald’s Senior Marketing Director Guillaume Huin, who wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Bitcoin’s jump past $100,000 “the exact day McRib is back is fucking hilarious.” (According to McDonald’s official website, “McRib SZN” officially started in America Tuesday.)

For an industry with an insatiable hunger for memes, crypto watchers have honed in on the McRib’s supposed power to move markets for years. As spot Bitcoin ETF anticipation in October last year, Bitcoin’s price indeed rose from $28,000 to $35,400 with the sauce-slathered menu item returning to the U.S., a bullish bounce envisioned by some analysts.

The correlation between the McRib’s reintroduction and Bitcoin gains may be tantalizing, but the trend is far from bulletproof. In 2018 and 2022, the saucy sandwich’s return preceded a steep decline in Bitcoin’s price to $3,250 and $15,500, respectively.

The McRib exited the golden arches as a permanent menu item in 2005, and since then, its return has been tied to favorable market conditions outside crypto as well. Based on data from 2010 to 2023, the S&P 500 had a higher daily return when the savory sandwich was available, according to an X post shared by Ritholtz Wealth Management COO Nick Maggiulli.

Maggiulli did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

The McRib made its American debut in the 1980s, but it has garnered an international following. In October, the sandwich was reintroduced for a limited time in the United Kingdom, a supposedly favorable market signal flagged by a pseudonymous X user named Internbrah, who works on the Monad blockchain team.

For financial gurus trading off of fast food menu items, the development raises thought-provoking questions: Could the recent jump in Bitcoin’s price, attributed widely by analysts to President-elect Donald Trump’s White House win (and which he’s taken credit for), have originated from afar?

Internbrah told Decrypt in a statement that the McRib’s revival is “only a catalyst when it returns in the U.S.” Suggesting that global liquidity is on an upswing, Internbrah also claimed that he’s been using the McRib as a trading indicator for years.

“Sure, the McRib returning as a catalyst is a funny meme, but as all great memes, it’s rooted in truth,” Internbrah added. “It has never failed me—fade the McRib at your own expense.”

Typically, the pressed pork patty, shaped to look like a rack of ribs, is reintroduced in October, November, or December. And that wiggle room is likely influenced by the price of pork butts, as well as beef trimmings, according to research from Decision Next.

Historically, Bitcoin’s best returns have occurred in October and November, rising 22% and 46% on average since 2013, according to CoinGlass data. So, if the saucy sandwich had taken a years-long hiatus, then different memes like “Uptober” or “Moonvember” may hit the menu instead.

Edited by Andrew Hayward