Less than one month after the fast food giant Burger King launched its blockchain token, the Whoppercoin without Russian regulatory approval, the Izmailovo inter-district prosecutor’s office summoned Burger King to explain the issuance of its cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, Burger King is confident that it has not broken any laws since there is currently no regulation for cryptocurrency in Russia.
Burger King has so far received two summon notifications from the Lzmailovo prosecutor's office. One summon letter was dated the September 13 while the other was dated September 19, told a Burger King representative to the RNS. In the letters, prosecutors noted that Burger King issued cryptocurrency and began allowing payments to be made with it. The summon letters were also aimed at informing the management of the company in Russa that it is illegal to issue and use any other currency other than the Ruble in Russia.
“On the instructions of the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, information was checked that we issued a cryptocurrency and started making payments with it. Accordingly, we were summoned to be reminded that within the territory of the Russian Federation the turnover of any currency other than Russian rubles was banned and all details of this project were clarified,” said the representative of Burger King.
Russian investigators also want to know how Burger King's digital coin operates and whether there was a mass issuance of the currency.
The coin is named after Burger King's Whopper sandwich. The digital coin was introduced in late August this year. The coin acts as a loyalty program hosted on the wave platform. Burger King rewards customers with Whoppercoins after they make a purchase. Customers can use the rewards they have received to buy a Whopper sandwich. The digital coins can also be traded for other cryptocurrencies as well as for fiat coins. A customer is issued with one Whopper coin for every Ruble they spend (1Ruble = 0.017US$). A customer will need to accumulate 1,700 whopper coins to redeem a Whopper sandwich.
