Describing the confection as a "coin-shaped, golden sponge cake," Hostess Brands quickly clarified that the product was not, in fact, cryptocurrency, but a celebration of the digital currencies.
“Cryptocurrency has generated a lot of headlines and discussion lately. So, Hostess Twinkies decided it was time to launch its own ‘currency’ that delivers a very tasty return,” the company said.
The launch of the edible snacks delighted — and shocked — many in the crypto space, which has taken a large beating as markets have slumped and a crypto winter has set in. Since last November, the value of cryptocurrencies has slid 70%, and crypto firms have regularly laid off staff, restructured, or even filed for bankruptcy. Last month, the blockchain analysis firm Glassnode said that a majority of Bitcoin investors were facing losses.
The economic turbulence roiling crypto markets has some questioning why crypto-themed Twinkies are being rolled out now.
“$TWINKcoin is a currency with a stable value — it’s always delicious!” the company said, in an apparently tone-deaf nod to stablecoins, or digital currencies that are 1-to-1 pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar or gold. Recent months have seen the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, draining investors of tens of billions of dollars.
