Burger King Russia has introduced its own virtual currency called Whoppercoin on the Waves Platform in late August 2017. The move showed that the use of digital currencies in Russia continues to grow as the fast food giant announced its interest in accepting Bitcoin payments.
Based on a local report, the chain restaurant has issued one billion tokens on the platform.
The purpose of the issuance is not yet very clear. One possibility is that the digital coins will be used by the company as a means to pay or monetize the loyalty points earned by its customers. For instance, customers could scan their receipts using the Burger King mobile app and receive the tokens in exchange.
Russia thaws on crypto
After years of rejecting Blockchain technology and digital currencies, the Russian government has recently launched major initiatives to embrace them. Among these is the drafting of regulations that will recognize and allow the use of virtual currencies in the local economy.
Seeing the positive actions by the government on cryptocurrencies and Blockchain, a growing number of companies in Russia are adopting the technology in their operations. With the move of Burger King Russia to launch its own digital token, it is expected that several companies will soon follow suit.
Whoppercoin everywhere?
With the launching of the Burger King Russia token, other Burger King restaurants all around the world could issue their own digital currency tokens if the new Whoppercoin is successful.