Bitcoin bears frequently deride the flagship cryptocurrency as a speculative bubble, but just wait until they find out about the volatility of Bacoin, a bacon-backed “cryptocurrency” from Oscar Mayer. First things first: Bacoin is not a cryptocurrency. Rather, it’s a cleverly-branded promotion that uses an instant win game — excuse me, “mining” — to give away bacon coupons whose values float based on user engagement. However, based on BACN’s price movements, “float” is probably a generous term. Here’s an example. Early Tuesday morning, the Bacoin price exploded to 14 slices, up from five slices just two hours prior. However, at this point, the Bacoin bears appeared to gain a foothold, and the token’s value promptly plunged by 93 percent to 1 strip of bacon, where it continued to languish at the time of writing. Source: Oscar MayerThe plunge may be connected to the fact that, for reasons aren’t entirely clear, the Bacoin promotion is split into two phases, the first of which ended on Monday at 11:59 pm ET. Of course, there are several points that warrant clarification. Since Bacoin is not actually a cryptocurrency, it does not trade on an exchange. Rather, its value is linked to the dubious metric of social media engagement. As more people share the Bacoin promotion, the token value rises — up to a maximum of 42 slices of bacon, distributed in the form a coupon for three 1lb packs of Oscar Mayer bacon. Incidentally, the rules also cap the total value of all prizes at $48,000, which provides Bacoin with a maximum market cap equivalent to that of a project called HealthyWormCoin (yes, it’s as weird as it sounds). As CCN reported, a developer slapped Oscar Mayer with a cease-and-desist order, alleging that he had already created a bacon-backed cryptocurrency called Bacoin in 2014. However, he has acknowledged that he does not have the resources to mount an actual legal challenge, and the letter does not appear to have dissuaded the meat producer from continuing its promotion. According to the rules, the promotion will continue until May 14, after which users will have a week to exchange their tokens for bacon coupons. Featured Image from YouTube