--- title: "New Crypto Backed by “America’s Most Stable Asset”: Cans of AriZona Iced Tea" description: "Nothing in the US economy has been more stable than the price of AriZona tea cans — what better value to peg a stable crypto coin towards?" date: "2022-05-19" modified: "2022-05-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/arizona-tea-stablecoin" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "ethereum" - "nfts" - "stablecoins" - "the blockchain" - "the digest" --- # New Crypto Backed by “America’s Most Stable Asset”: Cans of AriZona Iced Tea ![Nothing in the US economy has been more stable than the price of AriZona tea cans — what better value to peg a stable crypto coin towards?]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Drink Up Throughout the ups and downs of the American economy, one thing has been astonishingly constant: the price of AriZona Iced Tea drinks, which always has been, and hopefully always will be, 99 cents. In other words, can you imagine any better asset to back a new "stable" cryptocurrency? The [website for USDTea](), a new AriZona Iced Tea-backed crypto, calls the iconic beverage "America's most stable asset" — and it's hard to argue, given that a big can of the good stuff [has been 99 cents since the company began distributing]() in 1992. News of the almost certainly tongue-in-cheek USDTea comes in the wake of the ongoing stablecoin nightmare, in which the price of the [Terra stablecoin drop more than 99 percent]() and amid a larger [crypto crash that's brought even Bitcoin to its knees](). ## Hucksters Created by the [mossy tech/art collective]() — the same group behind the [unofficial Non-Fungible Olive Gardens]() project — USDTea is on the Ethereum blockchain and can, as its website claims, be redeemed for actual AriZona teas (for a $20 flat fee, of course). Along with these two seemingly satirical crypto projects, mossy also has a third maybe-joke non-fungible token (NFT) project: [Blockedchain](), which allows people to mint NFTs when, and only when, someone famous blocks them on Twitter. Of these three absurdist ventures, USDTea seems to have the most potential to go anywhere — though in the world of crypto, which saw the jokingly-named Dogecoin spike in value after [Elon Musk tweeted the word "doge,"]() who's really to say? **More on crypto schemes:** *[Suicidal Posts Spike After Crypto Project Crashes]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()