Chipotle to give away food, bitcoin on National Burrito Day

Facts about Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Thursday is National Burrito Day, and Chipotle will give away more than just goodness wrapped in a flour tortilla. Yes, you might get a free burrito, but you also might get $25,000 in bitcoins.

There’s one catch, however; you have to solve a code to access your prize.

Here’s how it works: You have to play at Chipotle’s burritosorbitcoin.com site, which will go live at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time — that’s noon here — on April 1, which is National Burrito Day. Each player will have 10 tries to guess a valid six-digit code for a chance to win a free burrito or up to $25,000 in bitcoins. If you fail in your 10 attempts, don’t fret; you might still be “surprised and delighted with a special offer from Chipotle,” the company states in a press release.

The game is inspired by Stefan Thomas, the founder and CEO of Coil, who famously lost the login to his hard drive that stores millions in bitcoins. The small hard drive is called an IronKey, and Thomas gets 10 tries to guess the password that unlocks a digital wallet containing 7,002 bitcoins, the New York Times reported. One bitcoin is currently worth $58,101.30. So today, he has $406.7 million in bitcoins stuck in this digital wallet.

He’s tried eight times so far to unlock it, with no luck.

“National Burrito Day is a huge moment for Chipotle as our fans traditionally flock to our restaurants and digital platforms to order their favorites,” Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer, said in the press release. “We’re always looking for unique ways to enhance the celebration, and this year, we’re giving fans the opportunity to acquire two highly valuable assets: Burritos or Bitcoin.”

If your decoding skills are sharp, you could be one of:

» 10,000 fans who will win a free burrito

» 50 fans who will win $500 in bitcoins

» three fans who will win $25,000 in bitcoins

You don’t have to buy anything to play. You don’t even have to leave your home since the game is online. You can read the full rules here.