Ep 158: MALWARE - McDonald's Grimace Memecoin, TikTokers take over the DNC & more!

[00:00] Malware is a non-technical look at the tech news of the week. This is a podcast where we learn together about everything from crypto to AI to whatever comes next in tech. I'm Natasha Hoskins. I'm Dina Burke. And this is Boys Club. Wait, is it just Boys Club? It's just Boys Club. [00:18] The boys club podcast. No, no. [00:20] Just boy stuff. [00:22] - Hey. - Hi, how's it going? - Malware is coming out a day early. - Because there was exciting [00:27] news that happened yesterday emergency pod emergency pod we've had so many emergency pods this week [00:35] - I'm in Nashville. [00:36] And we had a crazy morning with the Grimace and McDonald's of it all. So malware is a non-technical look at the tech and tech adjacent news from the week. This week, we're talking about the... [00:49] Grimace Solana token. [00:51] the DNC's influencer TikTok strategy. And then we do some quick hits on some fun topics that range from Joe Rogan to Alex Cooper. What more could you want? [01:04] Exactly. Enjoy. [01:07] Hey, Natasha. So a question we get asked a lot is, what do you look for in a crypto platform? So let's talk about it. Well, Dina, I look for a secure, no fuss platform that I can dive into right away. That's why I love today's sponsor, Kraken. If you're waiting for the right time to get into crypto, Kraken makes it super easy and intuitive to get started. Plus, if you get stuck, they have an award-winning client support team that's available 24-7, along with a bunch of educational guides, articles, and videos to help you along the way. If you're ready to check out

[01:36] kraken.com backslash boys club and see what crypto can be not investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to us customers through payward interactive inc hot day in crypto exciting morning at boys club hq i'm sorry that i fumbled your generational wealth by you having to pick me up at the airport honestly it was a blessing in hindsight it was a blessing for context so you're welcome for for listeners there was big event that happened on [02:06] This morning, the McDonald's appeared to launch a Solana meme coin. [02:11] through their social media accounts they dropped a token address that was a salon of meme coin that was launched on pumped up fund called grimace it turned out to be a hack grimace is some sort of iconic figure in the mcdonald's world building universe so grimace meme coin [02:27] launch this morning. [02:28] a very sophisticated way in which it was launched. [02:33] which was via, initially via Guillaume Huynh's social media account. [02:38] He is the senior marketing director for McDonald's and is very active on Twitter. [02:43] He's kind of famous. Like, people look to him. He's a figure, I would say, in marketing circles. In marketing circles, exactly. And he's known as... He's not a public figure, but he's known in marketing circles. And... [02:55] is a very online person. So the first thing that happened is that he [02:59] tweeted that [03:01] They were air quotes for the listener that he tweeted didn't end up being him. But his Twitter account posted that McDonald's was doing a grimace thing. And he was like, watch the space. Part of the phrasing was any updates, check the McDonald's official account. Like any further updates will come from the McDonald's official account. So like that seemed sophisticated. That was that was a legitimate way to start it. And then they dropped the token address in that tweet. And then the McDonald's Instagram account, which has 5.1 million followers.

[03:31] posted about it, the Grimace coin. And the energy was electric at Boys Club HQ. - The energy, it was forantic. My plane was landing and I was on a raw dog flight. The Nashville to New York City flight, [03:44] does not have any Wi-Fi. And every single time you and I are like, it doesn't, it didn't have Wi-Fi. It's never once had Wi-Fi. And we've done this fight. It doesn't, it just doesn't have Wi-Fi. It just doesn't have Wi-Fi. Like it just doesn't have Wi-Fi. Yeah. It like literally doesn't. So I was doing that thing where you turn off airplane mode when you're like not landed, but you're hoping to some, some aura of your signal will ping through some notification. And that's where I was at. And it was, it, the Slack was going off and you were like, [04:14] numbers aren't accurate now and I was like what's going on I'm just like what's happening well I think mostly why it was because this is this is Kate's [04:25] Oh, she was like, this is her Olympics. This is her moment. Yeah, the Super Bowl. It's the intersection of Kate and Kate that we found ourselves out this morning. Have you seen the Seinfeld where... [04:36] where Kramer is downtown and they're, you know, they're never downtown. And he calls Jerry and he's like, I need you to come get me. And he was like, where are you? And he was like, I'm at the intersection of first and first. Like, I can't handle it. And that's what I feel like is happening to Kate today. [04:52] Okay, we're like the slack just on fire. [04:57] So I'm like, Kate, this is your moment. This is your time. You got to take the story. You have to break it. And she's like, put me in coach. She's like, I'm putting on all my McDonald's paraphernalia right now.

[05:07] And so for the listener who doesn't have contacts on Kate, you must get contacts on Kate, but she's a huge McDonald's genuine. [05:15] McDonald's fan. [05:17] And worked there for many years, has all the stuff. And she just loves the brand and genuinely loves it, loves it, loves it. And knows all the lore and has all the stuff. And again, worked there for many years and now works in crypto with us. And so anyway, that was sort of the backstory there. So... [05:31] I'm like, "Kate, now's the time." But also, [05:35] We were looking at it and we're like, this does look a little suspicious. Let's be honest. I don't know that. [05:41] McDonald's is willing to risk what they'd be risking with SEC by putting out a meme coin. And so it started to look suspicious. And there's a newsroom clip that I want to cut into this podcast, which is basically like, really like overly dramatic segment where he is like deciding whether or not to break the news. [06:00] And they anchor, he basically doesn't end up breaking the news and they find out like, [06:05] Anyway, I'll clip it here. It's so funny, but we didn't want to go out with something and then [06:10] find out that it was hacked right of course because we're legitimate we're a newsroom so we start getting some feelings that maybe it wasn't right and i'm like okay dm guilliam for comment like comment from him anyway it was a hack but very sophisticated very sophisticated hack yeah they they knew what they were doing i do want to say congratulations to the unnamed friend of the pod here who forexed on the trade forexed and i will say in this group chat they said

[06:40] Is this real? [06:42] And you responded, yes. And then they were like, great. And they went for it. And that is a wild move on both of your parts. I know. [06:54] One just quick note on Pumped Up Fun. [06:56] It has done $100 million in revenue in the past eight months since it launched. Must be nice. I can't even be on that website. It's so stressful. It's insane. It's an insane website. It's an insane person website for sure. You know, you have those friends that... [07:12] you hear from them and they're just like messing problem, like every time you hear from them, you're like, oh, something's happened. And it's like that crisis person. [07:19] That's what pumped up fun is. Like every time there's like, I'm like, Oh, it's pumped up fun. [07:25] That's just how they are. That's just what it is. Yeah, exactly. So there's been 1.8 million meme coins that have been launched on Pumped on Fun. Wow. They get a 1% fee on all the transactions, the selling and the buying. And... [07:38] It is a cash printer, basically. [07:41] Wow. Cool. What were the numbers on Grimace? How much volume were we working with? $700,000 in volume, which is what I saw. But the block was reporting a $25 million market cap. Seems wrong. I couldn't get there with that. The market cap that I saw was like $700,000, $800,000. The hacker apparently made $700,000. [08:04] about that because they basically took all the tokens and pumped it and like spread it across wallets and then dumped it so the hacker made that and our friend who forexed made some cash and that's about it there were some winners there were some winners and there's lots of losers as there always are also the hack then went really dark the official mcdonald's account had their bio change to racist slurs it got really weird really bad

[08:28] really weird and disgusting and dark and yeah also not at all surprising. [08:33] Given. Can you imagine what it's like at McDonald's HQ right now? Woo. Someone is getting fired. Yeah. Crazy, crazy stuff. [08:43] That's that. Another day in crypto. [08:47] It's time for a more open, inclusive, and transparent financial system. A system that serves nearly everyone, everywhere, all the time. That's why we love today's sponsor, Kraken. Kraken is a crypto platform that provides a super simple on-ramp to the world of crypto with a 24-7 support team. Crypto transcends physical and imaginary borders. No matter where you are, you can send funds easily and quickly to almost any part of the world. Plus, forget about waiting times and waiting lines. You can send, receive, and trade crypto anywhere near instantly. [09:17] b at kraken.com backslash boys club not investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to u.s customers through payward interactive inc no third party transfers available okay changing gears here i'm gonna go political can't wait not really but i'm just reporting on the democratic national convention bringing in tiktok creators the dnc is happening [09:47] who don't know, the convention is where the delegates of the Democratic Party go to cast their official vote for the nominee for the presidential election. [09:56] So it's basically like pomp and circumstance and ceremony and campaigning for whoever the nominee is going to be. So to officially confirm Kamala and Walls.

[10:06] as the pick for the 2024 presidential election so what's interesting about this year and what i have actually noticed on my channels as well my just personal channels is that the democratic party brought 200 content creators and influencers to attend this is the first time that they have had this strategy the democratic party and it's essentially an attempt to bring in tick tockers [10:36] propaganda. [10:36] I'm a Democrat, so I can say that. Democratic propaganda through the channels that they're already watching. So a huge demonstration of how much the media landscape has changed since the 2016 election. Basically ever. It's unprecedented to have this type of access for essentially like 19-year-old TikTok creators to have their own section. There's quite a bit of drama actually between journalists, traditional journalists, and these creators. Because the journalists are saying like, we're being treated really poorly. We have terrible conditions. [11:06] They've made room for these content creators and they have their own areas. They have like areas where they can set up their TikTok light. They can do all this stuff so that they can report on what's happening. And so here's Rutgers quote. The besieged journalism industry, which has lost tens of thousands of jobs from cost cutting and consolidation over more than a decade, had its space at the convention slashed compared to previous conventions, according to a Pew study. There's two ways to look at this.

[11:36] I just I'm sorry that's fine you you can feel however you want but I don't I don't really care that's fine um [11:43] My take is you're looking at two forms of media, obviously. You're looking at traditional media. They have fact-checking. There's all these checks and balances. You can trust, for the most part, I don't know, unless you're Joe Rogan, you can trust that there are... [11:59] factual information coming from these sources. And then you have fast speed of light in the moment content creation that's happening with these young creators. And I think it's really smart. And I think it's very cool that they've done this. I just think [12:12] I have a constant fear, especially in election cycles, around [12:16] media literacy and the intake of information where most people and most young people are getting their news from tick tock and how even if that information is accurate, you're teaching yourself and you are conditioning yourself to [12:28] have that be your main source of information. And that is legitimately how people get radicalized. And so it's a little concerning, but I do think the strategy is great for this election cycle. And a few things here, Adam Faze of Gymnasium wrote in Emily Suddenberg's newsletter, Feed Me. All of these people are very talented people. If you don't know them, you should go and follow them and you should definitely subscribe to Emily Suddenberg's newsletter. It's excellent. And this [12:58] that is on the ground for the DNC. And actually one of the people that I was like, oh, crazy, like the DNC is happening because he was posting about it. Also Emmett Shine is there and he's been posting about it. So pop base.

[13:08] Is there pop base? Huge get, huge get for the DNC. So this is a quote from Adam Faze on the ground at the DNC. He said, I always say you can best track the changes in media consumption through election cycles. In 2008, Jon Stewart was the most important voice for young people. By 2020, Obama was going on between two firms on Funny or Die. By 2016, memes had taken over, but late night television still had enough relevance where Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers showing emotion over Trump's win meant something. [13:37] Flash forward to today and Trump is going on Aiden Ross and the DNC has over 200 creators in attendance. The power balance has completely shifted. The mainstream media of today isn't TV, it's TikTok. [13:47] which is his bit, and he's pumping his bags on this one. But I do agree that there is a very distinct shift in the strategy of these two parties this year, knowing that first line of defense on information is TikTok, and it's not like Fox News for most young voters. Some highlights here, internet highlights that I've seen from the DNC that I've really enjoyed. Lil Wayne performing turndown for what? For the Georgia delegation. Wild move. People liked that. People liked it. I don't know that I liked it. I was just like... [14:17] Is this a joke? Are we joking? Obama making like a penis joke? Crazy. Did you see this? I didn't see it. Okay. In his speech, he had a great speech. I always love him. I don't love him more. And he was like his weird obsession with crowd sizes. But when he talked about size, it was like a penis motion. [14:36] Of size. And the crowd loved it. And Michelle Obama just crushed it. Just she is so amazing and eloquent and beautiful and smart and all the things. And then the internet is absolute. My internet at least is absolutely awesome.

[14:51] obsessed with Jack Schlosschenberg [14:54] He is... [14:55] JFK's [14:58] God, he has... [15:01] grandson jfk was his godfather oh grandfather grandfather wait he [15:07] He is... [15:09] JFK's grandson. [15:12] And he did a speech. [15:14] And I have been following him since his Vogue article because someone sent it to me and was like, I'm in love with this man. [15:19] He is so charming. And... [15:23] Just delightful. And just like a, just a snack. He's a snack. The best. Fodder. Him at the DNC is fodder for everything. [15:32] women everywhere i would say i think all genders i think he appeals people people humans humans i'm not i don't discriminate has it been on your internet or no yeah yeah totally i'm not like gonna stop my scroll on him [15:46] personally. Oh my gosh. But have you watched some of his videos? I've seen them all. He's very funny. I get it. It just isn't. It's not for me personally. I also just want to say extremely rich and extremely hilarious that the story is around. [15:59] mainstream media versus creators and the risks on giving too much credence to creators after we just talked about how I almost fucked everything by saying by validating the the grimmest launch [16:12] Oh my god, I didn't even put two and two together. Pot kettle. We're just... Pot kettle. Big time. Big time. Okay. That's that? That's that. From Idris Elba to Stripe to the Central Bank of Brazil, the sixth annual Stellar Meridian Conference in London has the range. Join policymakers, investors, builders, and more on October 15th through 17th in London to talk about how crypto is transforming everyday financial services right now.

[16:42] Tickets are going fast, so get yours now at meridian.stellar.org. [16:52] we're going to report on. Yeah. The first one here, really not much of a story, except it's really just a single TikTok. It's a single TikTok that you had seen and then you watched with me on 2x speed, which I was like, I'm not following. It's going too fast. I've never done increased speed on things before, but then I was listening in my home to the Joe Rogan podcast and my husband walked in and he was like, [17:18] How can you not be listening to that on? [17:21] like 1.5 speed at least yeah at least and so then i started listening to that on [17:27] Anyway, so now I'm hooked. But yeah, so one TikTok... [17:31] A single TikToker has... Trendspotting. You're trendspotting. But it's a really funny story. Basically, she has Airbnbs and... [17:42] She was talking about like weird rules she has for her airpnv's and one weird rule that she has [17:48] It was a result of an incident that occurred where she had this renter who was like a great tenant, five stars. Three weeks was there. Three weeks, but left the place immaculate. And then... [18:00] I didn't think anything of it. And then she got her electricity bill. [18:03] - Yeah. [18:04] And it was like 1500 bucks or something for that three week period. And it, [18:08] Then she looked at the security cameras of the people that were renting and leaving and she saw them taking out 10 computers. And then found out that they were mining.

[18:19] crypto from her Airbnb and that it was cheaper to rent an Airbnb and [18:25] arbitrage there was an there's an arb there's an arb moment arp arp for short so [18:31] interesting yeah interesting tip for people i don't know don't do that don't do that that's in not kind it's anti-social behavior it's anti-social exactly okay the next one alex cooper for those of you who do not know who a scooper is she is the host and creator of a podcast [18:49] called Call Her Daddy, and a podcast network called The Unwell Network. And she is famous. She's very famous. She just inked a deal. In 2021, she had a three-year Spotify deal, valued at around $60 million. She had originally started at Barstool Sports. There's a lot of drama there. It's a very interesting story. If anybody wants to break it down, give me a call. Part of the drama and the story with her was that she cut her co-host out of the deal. [19:19] to do but I would never do that to you. [19:23] but in her case okay red flag [19:29] um anyway she yeah a salacious story with her and dave portneau and portneau i always say his name wrong i don't know you know i think it is portnoy um i'd love to hear an acquired style podcast deep dive on the call her daddy the reason why we're talking about it today is that it was just announced her spotify deal has closed and she's signed with sirius xm radio for a three-year deal

[19:59] $35 million. So here's a quote here. Sirius XM will replace Spotify as Cooper's distribution and advertising partner. Sirius XM will have exclusive rights for advertising, distribution, content, events, [20:11] and more for cooper's flagship call her daddy podcast as well as the lineup of shows from her unwell audio network call her daddy will continue to be available for spotify listeners which is crazy to me it's not even like an exclusive deal happy for her and one of the questions that came up at boys club hq was like wow sirius xm what kind of money you got rolling around over there in 2023 they did almost nine billion dollars in revenue that's crazy that's crazy to me and i [20:41] zero research, but my intuition is that when I bought my Kia, [20:46] there's a year free that you get of Sirius. And so they're just bulk selling. They're not selling in individual like [20:52] subscriptions i think sure but it's like yeah they're selling it into honda they're selling to kia and it's a b2b move b2b play and like probably makes up [21:02] If I were to guess like 85% of their subscription base. Whoa. You think that high? Yeah, I do. I don't know anyone that subscribes to SiriusXM. I know quite a few people. And you do? Yeah, totally. Who? Who? [21:13] Okay, I know three people off the top of my head that I can think of. [21:16] One does it for country music stuff. [21:22] One does it for the Garth Brooks radio. Okay. He has a radio station. Okay. And I was wondering what Garth Brooks was up to. And,

[21:29] He's exclusive. I'm sure he got a massive deal. I'm sure it was a hundred million dollar plus deal too. He's huge, but also is in many ways post money. I think he's up. He's post money. He's post money. Totally. Oh man, I would love to be post money. And third, Howard Stern, people who subscribe for Howard Stern. You have friends who subscribe for Howard Stern? [21:48] I have a friend I can think of who subscribes for Howard Stern. Honestly, I would if I had a car. I love Howard Stern. [21:54] I think he's a great... I know very little about Heartstone, but I listen to Spotify when I'm in the car. Totally. I don't listen to SiriusXM. I don't even have a car. So I'm not involved in this, but I'm really happy for her. I would love for her to... I would love to be her is all I'm trying to say. So anyway, intersection of media and tech here. Here we are. What's the next one? Oh, the next one I really like. [22:24] They're like Bumble and Tinder and Raya dates. Basically, you upload the photos into ChatGPT from their profile and you say, how tall is this person basically? [22:33] That's so great. That's so smart. Like can take it from a series of photos to be like, this person's five foot 10. That is really smart because I've heard Raya doesn't have height. So it's a big issue for a lot of people with that app. So just fire up chat GPT is the answer. Yeah. Fire it up, upload the photos and then see what they say. Just ingenious use case. Ingenuity. Ingenuity that excites. The last one here, we had scoped out a full episode of one of our core principles here at Boys Club is Boys Club did this so you don't have to. Like we watched

[23:03] or we listened to this podcast or we went to this conference or whatever. And we were, you did, but I couldn't, going to do the Joe Rogan, Peter Thiel episode. [23:13] 211 minutes. [23:15] That is a lot of time. A lot of time. That's a lot of time on this planet listening to Joe Rogan. I mean, for those of you who don't know, Peter Thiel is one of the co-founders of PayPal, co-founder of Palantir, partner at Founders Fund, and... [23:29] a decorated man so just to finish i thought we are not doing the episode that's oh we're not we're just gonna we couldn't i was like i started listening to it and i know whatever peter teal is like god level in the tech community and he should be very well respected but this is my podcast so i can say whatever i want and and listening to the two of them it just all the only thing i could think is two bitches telling each other exactly like that's the only thing i could think the whole [23:59] I cannot listen to him. Yeah. I think Peter Thiel is very decorated, very well respected. [24:04] Not an unproblematic man. Very. I think very problematic. Very problematic. Yeah. Yeah. But also is a really interesting figure and really smart. My impression of listening to Joe Rogan was... [24:18] You know when you get caught in a conversation with like, [24:21] you're at like a backyard barbecue with you like get caught in a conversation with someone or you get caught in a conversation with like a neighbor who's like maybe a little crazy [24:28] Yeah, that's him. That's what I felt like when I was listening to Joe Rogan. I was like, oh, I'm caught in this conversation with someone who does not know what they're talking about.

[24:38] and who also doesn't care like [24:41] - Doesn't get-- - No humility around the fact that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Brazen in his stupidity. Also, just like, get an editor. [24:48] get an editor. Like, I know it's the point, but there is so much that does not need to be. I think people like that. [24:54] Oh my gosh, it's not for me. It's not for me at all. But at one point they were talking about like how hot it gets in Austin and [25:01] he goes yeah you know i saw it all the time i don't even notice it anymore and he was like i'm out there for three four hours just throwing darts in the middle of heat and i'm like what are you even talking about like who are you who is this person anyway he upsets me but one thing that was interesting is they were talking about basically how bad the taxes were in california the first 45 minutes were just about how bad taxes are in california and what people can do about it which unfortunately is a topic of conversation that i am really drawn to okay that's great it's [25:31] unfortunately for everyone else in my life, because it's something that I'm always wanting to talk about is state taxes. So I found the first [25:38] 40 minutes to be really interesting the second half where they're talking about the kennedy assassination i'm like it's 2024 what are we doing spending 30 minutes talking about kennedy assassination conspiracy theories crazy crazy crazy also a crazy thing to talk about with peter thiel and they didn't talk about tech really at all a little ai yeah about 20 minutes in they were talking about how the tech culture has affected san francisco how industries in specific cities affect the culture of that city so i'm just going to read some of the transcript here because

[26:08] interesting you know I always had I had man reading this transcript is impossible it's impossible it's so let's just sum it up oh my gosh I'm really trying I'm really trying [26:20] Anyway, I don't even know that actually this is, now that I'm reading the transcript of it, I don't even know that it's that smart. He's basically just saying AI is centralized and crypto is decentralized. Like, mm-hmm. [26:32] That's it. [26:33] Kind of. And then its impact on the Bay Area was, I think, what the point that he was trying to land. There was a moment where you could have lived outside of the Bay Area and worked in tech. [26:42] Yeah. And now because of the AI stuff, you kind of have to be there if you want to be at the very cutting edge of what's happening with the current narrative around AI. Anything else from the back half that I couldn't listen to? They talked a lot about conspiracy theories. They talked a lot about aliens and UFOs. [26:58] They talked a lot about pyramids. Pyramids? The pyramids. Egyptian pyramids? Yeah. [27:03] seriously like a lot about that my main core question yeah why did peter teal go like he hasn't he does not need to do this i know he does that's so strange he does not need to they talked about [27:13] Epstein and theories around that. I will say Peter Thiel did have a [27:18] kind of an interesting take on the Epstein stuff. For the record, I have no context on Epstein and Teal and Rogan. I don't know any of the backstory on any of those players. Nightmare Blunt rotation. Seriously. But Joe Rogan wants to talk about conspiracies, essentially gossip. That's the level that he gets into is talking about the individual. And Peter Teal was always trying to zoom out to talk about these bigger sort of structures and systems that are- Cultural,

[27:48] Joe Rogan kept wanting to like get in the mud. Joe Rogan wants the tea. [27:52] And Peter Thiel was basically talking about how his theory around the Epstein stuff is, and this is a little Games of Thrones-y, but I could see a world where this is happening. [28:01] where [28:02] He kept talking about this idea of like compromise. And honestly, if I hear anyone use that on Twitter, I'm going to roast them. Just shots fired in the direction. But basically, in order to get to this like inner circle of power and money, this like elite ring that they need to... [28:19] have something on you to become like a made man. They need to have some [28:23] dirt on you. [28:25] Or something. Who's they? Who's they? [28:26] The Illuminati. And similar to like in The Sopranos, that if someone in that elite ring has dirt on you, if they have Compromat, then they can control you. Okay. And you're under their thumb. [28:40] But also at the same time, you're more likely to rise in power and in ranks because you are a sort of controlled and known entity. [28:48] And so it's this like ring of power and money that, [28:52] The Epstein stuff is convenient because it's like if you were there and you were in and I think there was like varying degrees of in that you were his theory is that that was a way to garner power controlled because you were like in this weird. [29:06] dynamic with this. [29:07] group that's like, well, I'm here and you're here and we're all here. Yeah. Okay. It's so... [29:13] it's so you know totally so that was that that was that thanks for listening