However, the promise of return for the sophisticated investors Liven is targeting in its ICO will be national and then global expansion for the loyalty program, which Mr Wong admitted would proceed more slowly if cryptocurrency prices remained suppressed.

Liven's loyalty program gives diners points equivalent to 25 per cent of their spend to use anywhere else in Liven's network.

This network includes convenience food chains like 8Bit Burgers, Roll'd, Crinitis, Massi and Nene Chicken, which pay Liven a 25 per cent commission on every transaction made via the platform, in exchange for the promise of new customers lured from elsewhere in the network, and marketing initiatives such as sponsorship of the upcoming Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Regardless of cryptocurrency prices, Liven's blockchain and underlying "smart contracts" would enable it to scale globally much faster than if it were needing to establish payment gateways and deal with foreign currency in every new territory, Mr Wong said.

Staff in participating restaurants will have to be trained in accepting payments via LivenCoin, and users will need to update the LivenApp and actively agree to having their points balance converted to cryptocurrency, so that the start-up can run the know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks required by law.

The upside for this hassle would be that restaurants would attract more first-time custom from a wider network, including foreign tourists, while consumers would eventually be able to redeem their LivenCoins when overseas, Mr Wong said.

While about 1.1 billion of the planned 1.75 billion LivenCoins have been earmarked for sophisticated investors, the rest will be offered to the public for use on the platform.

However, the 25 per cent bonus to customers that Liven is underwriting with its 25 per cent commission was likely to reduce as its network and marketing power grew, Mr Wong said.

He said customers could sell their LivenCoins on open cryptocurrency exchanges if they did not wish to redeem it at a restaurant.

Liven raised $10 million of venture capital last year and would spend $5 million to $8 million on building and enabling its cryptocurrency platform, Mr Wong said.

The private presale of LivenCoins to sophisticated investors is scheduled to begin on April 15, the public main sale on May 7, and token allocation on June 15.