Burger King has entered the world of crypto-currencies. It has released its very own digital currency, called WhopperCoin. For now, WhopperCoin is only available in Russia.

Customers in Russia will be able to claim one WhopperCoin for every one Ruble they spend on the Whopper. Once Russians have accumulated 1,700 WhopperCoins, they can use it to buy a Whopper sandwich.

Also, Burger King plans on releasing apps for Apple and Android. The apps will let customers save and share their WhopperCoins. They can use the apps to trade their WhopperCoins, too.

Can take action if abuse occurs

To run the scheme, Burger King partnered with Waves, a crypto-cash startup. Waves will run the Blockchain ledger for WhopperCoin. This will keep track of which customers have WhopperCoins and what has been done with them. If customers want to claim their WhopperCoins, they can use their smartphone and scan a receipt.

WhopperCoin is a standalone system. However, it does bear a few technical similarities to Bitcoin, but it is still different. What this means is Burger King can shut the entire system done if people start abusing it.

Waves released a statement saying it had generated a billion WhopperCoins. Those coins can be used in Burger King's loyalty scheme.

Some believe that Burger King is the first major corporate brand to issue its own crypto-currency.

However, if WhopperCoins are a success, other companies may follow suit. On social media, there were a few users who claimed they have already claimed WhopperCoins after they went to a Burger King in Russia.

Who else will accept WhopperCoins

There is still one issue that remains. Other companies may not accept WhopperCoins. At least that's what Dr Garrick Hileman,a research fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, believes.

He said he doesn't picture McDonald's allowing someone to pay for food at their establishments with WhopperCoins. He added that Burger King's competitors are more likely to accept other crypto-currencies, such as Bitcoin and Litecoin.

On Twitter, Professor Prof Emin Gun Sirer, from Cornell University and a cryptocurrency expert, said other schemes will likely be launched.

He said reward points are a good use case for blockchains. He also Tweeted that WhopperCoins could be used in money laundering schemes and for ransomware payments. In fact, he said that this would undoubtedly happen with WhopperCoins.
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