Coinspeaker
Russian Social Network Giant VKontakte May Soon Launch Its Own Crypto

VKontakte (or VK.com), the largest Russian social network, may join the crypto community and issue its own digital currency. The source of the announcement is Russian media agency RNS, however, VK developers did not comment on the news yet.

VKontakte was created by Pavel Durov, the Telegram Messenger founder, in 2016. VK is available in several languages but it is especially used by Russian-speakers. In August 2018, the social network counted as much as over 500,000,000 registered users, including 97 million active monthly users.

According to those familiar with the matter, the project involves the creation of individual cryptocurrency accounts for all the users of the platform. The way to receive the tokens is users’ activity and spending a lot of time on the platform. The received cryptocurrency could be accumulated, transferred between users, exchanged for some goods or converted via VK’s payment service — VK Pay.

VK Pay is a cashless money transfer service that enables VK users to send money to each other in messages using a credit or debit card. The service was launched in June last year.

What is more, apart from launching the cryptocurrency, VK developers are reportedly considering introducing a tipping service to let users send the tokens to the authors of posts that they like.

The final decision on the project has not been yet made.

At the beginning of the year, there were rumors that Russia intended to invest billions of dollars in Bitcoin to cushion itself against the effects of U.S sanctions. All reports at that time cited a senior Russian economist and a lecturer at a national economics institution, without analyzing his statements and checking the information.

As a result, the rumor was fake, as Russia was not planning to buy $10 billion in Bitcoin, considering there was ‘no common sense’ in doing that.

But that does not mean Russia is negative about cryptos. The Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that cryptos have a future, despite their volatility. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also nothing against cryptos.

In February, Putin put forward a new deadline for the government to come up with a tangible regulatory framework for the digital currencies. By July 1, the government is to come up with regulation.

Some are expecting that Russia may become another heaven for crypto enthusiasts, however, Elina Sidorenko of the State Duma dispelled their hopes, saying that Russia will probably not adopt cryptos for at least the next 30 years.

She explained:

“The Russian Federation — like any other country in the world — is simply not ready to combine its traditional financial system with cryptocurrencies. And to say that this idea can be implemented in Russia for at least the next 30 years is unlikely.”

Another social network giant Facebook has also entered the crypto sphere and is currently working on launching its own digital currency. As we have reported, its crypto token is set to be launched by the first half of 2019. Moreover, Facebook is planning to integrate cryptocurrency payments across its messaging services, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, following the Russian-developed Telegram messaging app that announced the same plans earlier.

Recently, Facebook found itself in hot water after it was revealed the company had stored millions of user passwords improperly for years. The matter has cast a slur on Facebook’s reputation, however, its team members believe that this will not hinder the giant from realizing their great crypto plans.

Russian Social Network Giant VKontakte May Soon Launch Its Own Crypto

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