Burger King Russia makes Waves, presents Whoppercoin

When burgers are served with sides of their very own cryptocurrency, well, watch out for news headlines. Burger King Russia is in the news with an initiative involving their signature Whopper.

The deal gives customers the sandwich along with Whoppercoin tokens. The currency is placed in a cryptocurrency wallet, which the customer can use with an app from Burger King.

CoinIdol traced its news report back to local Russian news.

Waves Community News said, "Burger King Russia will release an app for the scheme in both the Apple Store and on Google Play next month."

The introduction of the Whoppercoin took place on August 22. CoinIdol said it was launched on the Waves blockchain platform.

Burger King Russia chose Waves as the platform for coin distribution. CNBC's Ryan Browne offered more details about Waves, and how the transactions will be powered by Waves' distributed ledger network.

"The blockchain platform allows users to issue and transfer custom blockchain tokens, and to trade them on an integrated peer-to-peer exchange."

According to Waves Community News site, "Customers will receive one Whoppercoin for every rouble they spend... and a Whopper burger can be redeemed for 1,700 Whoppercoins. Additionally, as a blockchain token, Whoppercoin can be freely transferred and traded online – meaning that customers can save their rewards, send them to friends or sell them to new buyers."

Natasha Bach in Fortune: "Burger King has reportedly issued one billion Whoppercoin tokens to date on Waves Platform, though it is possible that there will be more to come," Bach said.

Waves Community News said the WhopperCoin has been issued with a supply of 1 billion but further WhopperCoins can be issued if required.

The report carried a quote from Max Pertsovskiy, CBDO of Waves Platform. "We are glad that Burger King Russia has chosen Waves as a platform for its loyalty program launch and Whoppercoin distribution. We are sure that this decision will promote blockchain technology in Russia and will enable the promotion of its benefits and possibilities for a wide audience."

Also quoted was Ivan Shestov, head of external communications at Burger King Russia. "Now Whopper is not only burger that people in 90 different countries love – it's an investment tool as well."

Jon Southurst at Bitsonline expressed his view: "In the long run, blockchain and cryptocurrency tech will transform economies and commerce. But apart from a few visionaries, no-one really understands how yet. Most people don't actually know what money is, or why its form is so important. While they're learning, though, we have ICOs and Whoppercoins to play with."

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