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Burger King Is Allegedly Launching Its Own Cryptocurrency

Sure, you've got some Ethereum, but can you use it to buy Whoppers? Better get some Whoppercoin.
Photo via Flickr user Mike Mozart

Earlier this summer, Burger King Russia hinted that it might soon allow customers to pay for their ВОППЕР and БИГ КИНГ value meals with Bitcoin. One Burger King location in Moscow reportedly allowed one customer to use Bitcoin to pay his bill, but rumors of a country-wide or (even Moscow-wide) rollout don't seem to have gone beyond the internet speculation phase. That could be because now, Burger King Russia seems to have developed its own cryptocurrency, called—what else?—Whoppercoin.

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Although details of the Whoppercoin are sparse, Russian media outlets and cryptocurrency sites have reported that Burger King has produced one billion Whoppercoin so far, and additional coinage could be added in the future. The Whoppercoin are part of a new rewards program; customers will receive one Whoppercoin for each Whopper they purchase, because this is apparently the most literal cryptocurrency in existence. To collect Whoppercoin, frequent Burger King customers will scan their receipts with the Burger King app, and the still kind-of-imaginary currency will be deposited in their equally imaginary wallets.

A Burger King in Russia. Photo via Flickr user steven_maher

The Whoppercoin is part of a new loyalty program that will allow Whoppercoin-for-actual Whoppers transactions, although the details are still as vague as… well, all of this, so far. A Burger King Russia spokesperson said that the company would need to "test" the applications first, which seems like something it maybe should have done before announcing the rollout. Right now, there isn't even an exchange rate in place defining how many Whoppercoins one real-life Whopper will cost.

In June, the Valenok restaurant in Moscow became the first restaurant in Russia to accept Bitcoin, even though the Russian Central Bank has yet to recognize Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies. "We want to keep pace with the time. If there is a demand from guests for payment with bitcoin, we will even install special ATMs to exchange bitcoins for providing the proper level of service to our guests," Valenok restaurant spokesman Mikhail Petukhov told RIA Novosti at the time.

READ MORE: Beyond Bitcoin - How the Blockchain Could Change the Way We Eat

According to BitcoinRestaurants.net—a site that covers exactly what you'd expect—there are currently 94 restaurants in the United States that accept bitcoin as payment, including 25 in California, 11 in New York, and seven in Massachusetts.

MUNCHIES has reached out to Burger King Russia for comment and additional details about Whoppercoin and will update this story when it receives a response.