How Canned Iced Tea Became a Viral Crypto Project
Inside the crypto stunt collective known as Mossy, which has turned Olive Garden, AriZona Iced Tea and VC who block people on Twitter into cryptocurrency prank fodder.
When the value of the terra stablecoin started to plummet last month, things looked grim for the crypto market. Artists Brian Moore, Mike Lacher and Chris Baker decided to create a stablecoin whose value would never waver. The three of them, who are collectively known as Mossy, created a stablecoin pegged to AriZona Iced Tea, the sugary beverage that has famously cost $1 for years. “We have the most stable thing on the planet right in front of us,” Moore said.
All 1,000 of the tokens, known as USDTea, sold out in 90 minutes.
You don’t have to worry about the token collapsing, Mossy promises with a metaphorical wink. “We can ensure investors that we’ve been rigorously audited…audited by ourselves,” Lacher said. In a Zoom call, Lachar and Moore reassure me that the value of their stablecoin is backed by a reserve of 990 actual cans of AriZona Iced Tea, which are stored in secure locations, the specifics of which they can’t disclose because of what Moore calls “security implications.”