The day when you can buy your Big Mac at McDonald's (MCD), Whopper at Burger King or shake at Shake Shack (SHAK) using bitcoin might be coming soon.
Bitcoin is already making inroads into the fast-food industry. One fast-food chain has rolled out a rewards program to test customers' interest in cryptocurrencies, which might determine whether it begins accepting bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as payment.
Shake Shack on Friday confirmed on Twitter that it is offering its customers a 15% Boost Reward in the form of bitcoin for those who purchase their orders with a Cash App Cash Card (SQ) through March 15.
Customers Will Be Rewarded
"Not a bit, just more coin," Shake Shack tweeted. "You heard it right, now 'til March 15th, select Cash Card by @CashApp holders will be able to get their 15% Boost reward in the form of $BTC instead of USD. We're taking Shack to the moon."
Under the program, Shake Shack customers making a purchase using Cash Card from Cash App, the digital wallet from Block Inc., will receive 15% of the value of their purchase back in the form of bitcoin from Cash Card's Cash Boost rewards program.
The news of the rewards program was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Shake Shack will determine whether its young customers have an interest in the Cash App program and cryptocurrency, as Block's largest group of customers come from the millennial and Gen Z age groups, the Journal reported.
McDonald's Pressured to Accept Crypto
The New York-based fast-food chain's venture into the bitcoin and cryptocurrency world comes shortly after Tesla's (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Dogecoin cryptocurrency co-founder Billy Markus in January called on McDonald's to begin accepting the Dogecoin cryptocurrency as a means for payment.
"I will eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin," Musk tweeted on Jan. 25.
Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus on Jan. 19 in a tweet encouraged Dogecoin owners and fans to tweet messages to McDonald's showing their support for the cryptocurrency and to pressure the fast-food restaurant to accept the meme coin as payment.
More than 2,000 merchants currently accept Dogecoin as payment for transactions as of March 6, according to Cryptwerk, including Musk's Tesla. The electric vehicle manufacturer began accepting Dogecoin as payment for its products on Jan. 14.
Neither Musk, nor Markus, have tweeted requests to Shake Shack to accept Dogecoin at last check.
Bitcoin rewards company Lolli partners with over 1,000 stores and brands to provide bitcoin or cash to consumers' Lolli wallets, according to its website. Among the participating retailers are Nike (NKE), Lowe's (LOW), Staples (SPLS) , Walmart's (WMT) Sam's Club, Microsoft (MSFT) and eBay (EBAY).
Trading in cryptocurrency has exploded over the past two years as institutional investors traded $1.4 trillion in cryptocurrencies on the Coinbase Global exchange in 2021, after trading $120 billion in 2020, according to the Journal. A Visa survey showed 62% of cryptocurrency owners increased their use of digital currencies in 2021, while 57% of consumers want to earn crypto in rewards programs.
