The point of the hashtag is to encourage people to come up with a fictional cryptocurrency token that never took off. According to Twitter trends, thousands of users had taken part as of Wednesday morning.
Ideas have ranged from plausible tokens that have actually already existed—such as a marijuana-focused PotCoin—to the downright outlandish. One person suggested rice cakes.
Arizona Girl put forward bottle caps and another jokingly recommended “Dough Coin.”
The trend appears to have been started by the Twitter account of TooFar.TV, a Canadian comedy group, and stand-up comedian Tyler Morrison.
In a tweet on Wednesday morning, TooFar.TV said it was introducing the hashtag following the recent cryptocurrency market crash, adding: “It’s hard to keep up with crypto these days.”
It is not uncommon for bizarre cryptocurrency tokens to emerge. One of the world’s most popular ones is Dogecoin, a token that uses a meme as its mascot and was launched as a joke in the first place.
The price of many cryptocurrency tokens has plummeted over the past week or so. The combined value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation has sunk to about $1.77 trillion from a high of more than $2.5 trillion in mid-May.
Market leader Bitcoin has been one of the notable tokens to be affected by the downturn, at one point appearing as though it might drop below $30,000. On April 14, Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $64,863 according to CoinMarketCap data.
Adrian Zduńczyk, co-founder of blockchain analysis group YellowBlock and CEO of The Birb Nest crypto educational platform, told Newsweek there were various reasons behind the recent market slump.
Zduńczyk said: “The bearish news [has] included Elon Musk’s statement about Tesla suspending their cryptocurrency acceptance, China promising to tighten regulations for cryptocurrency holders—yet another time this year—as well as U.S. Treasury representatives sharing their concerns over cryptocurrencies used as tax evasion tools, and more.”
In addition, retail traders of Bitcoin began selling off their investments according to Zduńczyk, in what the analyst called a “panic” that was “unseen on the market since the COVID crash in March 2020.”
The crackdown in China has been one issue affecting the market. CNBC reported Tuesday that China’s Inner Mongolia region has proposed punishments for those who create Bitcoin—also known as mining.
These punishments could involve businesses having their licenses revoked, and come amid wider plans to ban new mining projects.
The cryptocurrency market is notoriously volatile, and experts have previously warned Newsweek about the risks associated with trading cryptocurrency tokens.
