Page 10 - IAV Digital Magazine #433

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Burger King Has Launched Its Own Cryptocurrency In Russia Called “WhopperCoin”
Burger King has waded into the cryptocurrency market with the launch of its own virtual coin called "WhopperCoin" in Russia.
With each pur- chase of the burger chain's signature Whopper sand- wich, customers can receive WhopperCoin tokens via a digi- tal wallet.
Bitcoin traders have previously
gotten a lot of flak in Russia, with reports last year suggesting users could even face jail time under proposed legislation.
However Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has since shown sup- port for cryptocur- rencies. In an interview with Russian media organization RBC, he said: "I am a supporter, a
cryptoround (sic) must exist."
WhopperCoin transactions will be powered by Ethereum rival Waves' distrib- uted ledger net- work. The blockchain plat- form allows users to issue and transfer custom blockchain tokens, and to trade them on an integrated peer- to-peer exchange.
A blockchain is
essentially a ledger of transac- tions that cannot be tampered with or changed. Such technology has been promised to revolutionize processes from financial trades to legal "smart" con- tracts.
In a press announcement Fr iday, Waves said the tokens would be used to reward customers for each pur- chase of the Whopper, and
eventually to buy burgers in exchange for the tokens once a customer has col- lected enough.
The coins can also be trans- ferred and traded online, allowing customers to either save their rewards or sell them to new buy- ers.
"Now Whopper is not only burger that people in 90 different countries love – it's an investment tool as well," Ivan Shestov, head of external commu- nications at Burger King Russia said, quoted by Waves.
"According to the forecasts, cryp- tocurrency will increase expo- nentially in value. Eating Whoppers now is a strategy for financial pros- perity tomorrow."
The restaurant chain is set to release an app for the digital tokens in both the Apple Store and
Google Play next month.
Various investors, firms and even governments have been show- ing an increased interest in digital currencies.
Last week Estonia announc ed its own aim to launch a state- backed cryptocur- rency, called "Estcoin".
Separately in Venezuala, citi- zens have report- edly been turning to bitcoin to afford basic necessities.
And this month bitcoin hit a fresh record high of more than $4,300 – although the original crypto- coin's blockchain was forced to split in twoearlier this month, con- tributing to con- cern from some investors.
Ethereum mean- while reached a near two-month high last Monday, trading at nearly $330.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine