Big Mac turns 50, McDonald's marks anniversary with 'MacCoin'

McDonald's is marking the 50th anniversary of its Big Mac sandwich by offering a limited-edition "global currency,” dubbed MacCoin, that can be redeemed for a Big Mac, its iconic hamburger.

The world's-largest fast-food restaurant said that, beginning Thursday, it will distribute more than 6.2 million MacCoins, which customers get by purchasing a Big Mac, in more than 50 countries.

A spokesperson for McDonald's said Monday that while the company cannot report how many Big Macs have been sold since 1968, last year alone more than 1 billion were sold.

Each MacCoin entitles the holder to one Big Mac, the company said. The coins will come in five designs, each of which commemorates one of the sandwich's five decades.

“When my great-grandfather Jim Delligatti invented the Big Mac at his grill in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he just wanted to make his local customers happy,” said Nick Delligatti, fourth-generation McDonald’s owner-operator and great-grandson of Jim Delligatti, the inventor of the Big Mac.