Chipotle releases $200k game to add some sunshine to the ‘crypto winter’

The new game is being launched in celebration of National Avocado Day (Sunday July 31) and will be accessible via the brand’s website starting at 1pm ET today. The brand says that it will be awarding cryptocurrency on a daily basis through Saturday July 30 according to the following structure:

• Five fans will receive $2,000 in Bitcoin per day ($10,000 total)

• Five fans will receive $1,000 in Ethereum per day ($5,000 total)

• Five fans will receive $250 in Solana per day ($1,250 total)

• 20 fans will receive $150 in Avalanche per day ($3,000 total)

• 20 fans will receive $150 in Dogecoin per day ($3,000 total)

The brand will distribute an additional $65,000 according to a similar model on Sunday July 31. $0.01 guac will also be available via a promo code to all Chipotle Rewards members on Sunday.

‘Buying the dip’ is an investment strategy in which the investor buys an asset that has suddenly dropped in value, with the expectation that the dip will be temporary and thereby that their investment will eventually pay off. The phrase has become particularly common among investors in the crypto market, which is frequently subject to sudden and often dramatic dips.

In fact, the crypto market has recently taken a historic plunge, ushering in what some analysts are calling a new ‘crypto winter.’ Some leading crypto exchange companies, including Coinbase, have been forced to start laying off employees. Crypto lending company Celsius Network filed for bankruptcy earlier this month in what some have called crypto’s ‘Lehman Brothers moment,’ comparing the lending company’s financial downfall to that of the major Wall Street bank in the days leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.

With its new game, Chipotle appears to be leveraging the recent dip in the crypto market as an opportunity to engage more deeply with a younger and more tech-savvy fanbase. "Our overarching goal [with this new campaign] is to build and reach the next generation of Chipotle fandom in the Web3 community by driving culture and difference,” saus Chris Brandt, Chipotle's Chief marketing officer. “‘Buy The Dip’ signals that we believe in Web3 over the long term.”

This is Chipotle’s second activation involving crypto prizes. Back in April last year, when the value of the crypto market was climbing, the brand launched a campaign called ‘Burritos or Bitcoin’ for National Burrito Day (April 7), which doled out a total of $100,000 in Bitcoin. This made it “the first US restaurant brand to launch a cryptocurrency giveaway,” according to a statement from Chipotle.

The brand has also been bullish on the metaverse. For National Burrito Day 2022, Chipotle launched ‘Chipotle Burrito Builder’ in Roblox, giving fans the chance to roll up some virtual burritos and earn crypto.

Chipotle currently accepts 98 different cryptocurrencies – including Bitcoin and Dogecoin – as forms of payment in its restaurants through a partnership with digital payment platform Flexa.

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