Fortnite, the massively popular battle royale game, continues to push its crypto-themed storyline forward this season—and the latest narrative twist, served to tens of millions of social media followers this weekend, helped aSolanameme coin briefly skyrocket in value.
Dill Bits (DB), an unofficial Solana token inspired by the game’s own fictional “crypto coin,” spiked from a market cap of about $107,000 to a short-lived peak of $4.75 million on Saturday—or $0.00475 per coin. That’s a more than 4,300% spike in a matter of minutes.
That peak nearly matched the previous high of about $0.0048 per coin set in February, though it didn’t last for long. The coin quickly plunged in value as whale traders cashed in on the surge.
It’s currently priced around $0.00075, falling to a roughly $750,000 market cap amid broader crypto market turmoil. Even so, DB remains up sharply from its early-weekend price, having steadily fallen in price since it was created in February.
DB was deployed by an unknown creator following the launch of Fortnite’s current in-game content season, Lawless, which features a pickle character named Big Dill who’s a rapper, bank robber, and faux crypto coin creator.
Where did the spike come from?
While DB on Solana is not an official crypto token of Fortnite creator Epic Games, the coin’s spike was prompted by Epic’s latest marketing push around the season.
On Saturday, official Fortnite social media accounts shared a faux news report about Big Dill and the in-game Dill Bits currency, which can be accumulated during matches and spent on items in “black market” locations on the game map.
That’s a nod to the long history of crypto being used in dark web marketplaces, such as Bitcoin on the long-shuttered Silk Road.
In the latest marketing video, a news anchor talks about Big Dill being “on the run for allegedly participating in a crypto rug pull,” saying that he “launched a crypto meme coin called Dill Bits.”
A man skeptical of Big Dill in the video says that people should spend their Dill Bits in the black markets, with the anchor then adding, “Please do not purchase this coin. Do not take financial advice from a pickle.”
Fortnite has tens of millions of social media followers across platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where the video was posted. Seeing one of the world’s most popular games poke fun at crypto industry ills gained the attention of crypto game industry participants.
“Fortnite’s entire new season is about crypto rug-pulling,” wrote Game Fund Partners GP Jonah Blake on X. “Congrats guys, you got mass adoption lmao.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair