Digital currencies

With WhopperCoin, burgers double as an 'investment tool' in Russia

By John Adams August 29, 2017, 11:38 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

Some virtual currencies are getting narrower focuses on individual categories such as dentistry, and Burger King will soon find out if the concept is transferrable to Russian fast food.

The chain's WhopperCoin has debuted in Russia, according to an announcement from Waves, the distributed ledger network that is powering WhopperCoin.

Burger King in Moscow — A Burger King sign sits on display outside a fast food restaurant operated by Burger King Worldwide Inc. in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. More than 200 of McDonald's Corp. restaurants in Russia-or roughly half the country's total 440 locations-are now under government investigation, according to the company, and a regulator has already closed nine McDonald's outlets in recent weeks. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

With each purchase of a Whopper, customers receive WhopperCoin tokens through a digital wallet. These reward tokens can eventually be used to purchase Whoppers once the customer has collected enough coins. The tokens can also be transferred and traded online, so customers can sell them to new buyers.

"Now Whopper is not only [a] burger that people in 90 countries love. It's an investment tool as well," said Ivan Shestov, head of external communications at Burger King in Russia, quoted in the Waves release. "According to forecasts, cryptocurrency will increase exponentially in value. Eating Whoppers now is a strategy for financial prosperity tomorrow."

Executive Editor, Payments, American Banker

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Digital currencies

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