SoylentNews

tonyPick [blogspot.co.uk] writes:

Spotted at BBC News is the report that Burger King has launched a crypto-currency-like scheme in Russia [bbc.com] called "WhopperCoin".

Customers will be able to claim one coin for every rouble (1.3p) they spend on the Whopper sandwich.

Russians will be able to buy a Whopper with the virtual cash, once they have amassed 1,700 whoppercoins.

The company said it would release Apple and Android apps next month so people could save, share and trade their wallet full of whoppercoins.

Burger King has partnered with crypto-cash start-up Waves to create and run the scheme.

The tech company will run the blockchain ledger for the coin to keep track of who has coins and what has been done with them.

Customers will be able to claim their coins by scanning a receipt with a smartphone.

The crypto-currency is a stand-alone system that has some technical similarities to Bitcoin but is distinct from it.

Also covered at Verge [theverge.com] and CNBC [cnbc.com], this scheme appears to be using the blockchain as a loyalty rewards scheme:

WhopperCoin transactions will be powered by Ethereum rival Waves' distributed ledger network. The blockchain platform allows users to issue and transfer custom blockchain tokens, and to trade them on an integrated peer-to-peer exchange.

The Waves Community page [wavescommunity.com] contains further information on this scheme.

Original Submission