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Social Media Giant VK Could Launch a New Cryptocurrency to the Market

Social media giant vk could launch a new cryptocurrency to the market

Social Media Giant VK Could Launch a New Cryptocurrency to the Market

Social media giant vk could launch a new cryptocurrency to the market

The popular Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK) could be developing its own digital currency. The information was released by the local news outlet RNS a few days ago. This is not the first large social media company that wants to release its own digital currency. Telegram is also working on its own blockchain network and cryptocurrency.

VK Could Release a Cryptocurrency

According to an unspecified person that is familiar with the matter, the firm wants to create a cryptocurrency that would be used by the users of the platform. Nonetheless, the firm has not yet made a final decision regarding the launching of the coin.

RNS was able to get a presentation from VK that shows how users would be able to obtain the firm’s tokens. One of the ways they will be able to acquire these coins is by exchanging them for their activeness and time spent on the platform.

Users can easily accumulate these coins and spend them later in the platform, exchange them for goods and services, convert them to fiat currency or transfer them between users. The VK Pay service is a cashless money transfer service that allows individuals to send funds to each other using credit or debit cards.

It is worth mentioning that individuals would also be able to send small sums of money to post creators or other users that share posts in the social network. If the firm decides to launch a digital asset, it could reach more than 42 million users just in Russia. According to Alexa, this is the third most popular site in the country.

Pavel Durov is the founder of VK and also the co-founder of Telegram. The company Telegram has been banned in Russia since it offers users the possibility to send private messages and open private conversations with encryption methods.

There are other social networks that are also thinking about launching their own digital currencies. Some of them are Telegram, WhatsApp, Line, Kik and also Kakao. Kik has already launched a virtual currency known as Kin. Meanwhile, Telegram and Line have advanced plans to launch their own digital assets to the market.

Some reports spread a few months ago regarding the possibility of Facebook launching a virtual currency for WhatsApp users in India. Apparently, the intention was to offer cheap and fast remittance services to users in India. Although the company has not announced anything about this possibility, the virtual currency has already received many critics from industry experts and the whole crypto community.

Published at Sun, 31 Mar 2019 21:06:47 +0000

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Russia to Issue First State-Backed Cryptocurrency ‘CryptoRuble’

Russia has announced plans to launch a nationalized cryptocurrency called CryptoRuble, citing competitive advantage by being the first of its kind in Europe, and as state-controlled digital money in the light of an increasingly digital economy.

Russia has announced, via communications Minister Nikolay Nikiforov, that the country will begin experimenting with a nationalized cryptocurrency. Exact facts are scarce, and most of the information comes directly from quotes from Nikiforov, although it is believed that once the CryptoRuble is introduced, all other cryptocurrency mining for coins such as bitcoin will be banned. That Russia is taking these steps indicate a pressing need for governments to somehow financially oversea and realize returns from the digital economy.

After a recent closed-door meeting, Nikiforov stated:

I am so confident to declare that we will run CryptoRuble just for one simple reason: if we don’t, our neighbors in the Eurasian Economic Community will do it in a couple of months.

A Taxable Currency

The Russian government has made it clear that if a CryptoRuble owner cannot account for where they got it, they will be subject to a 13% tax. The online economy has made it difficult and a concern for governments to collect taxes on an increasing digital sales industry.

“When buying and selling a CryptoRuble, the rate will be 13 percent from the earned difference. If the owner cannot explain the reason for the appearance of his CryptoRubles, when converting them into Russian rubles, the tax for him will be 13 percent of the total,” Nikiforov said.

Online Reception

Online reception to the news has been mixed, with some claiming that it is simply “digital fiat” as opposed to a true cryptocurrency. Others see it as a shrewd move, capitalizing on what could become a trend for the rest of Europe.

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Reddit user JeremyBF commented:

Wow, is there a legit source for this? I expect all governments to eventually do this, but this fast, awesome. This is actually great for bitcoin. Let the governments educate the people on the advantages of cryptocurrencies, the learning curve into bitcoin is then nearly complete!

The Russian move seems as much a response to engaging with the digital economy as it does to countering any competitive threat bitcoin might pose.

In the words of Nikiforov:

This mustn’t be a private currency, but the one, which is issued by the state, controlled by the state and enable to provide circulation of digital money in light of the digital economy.

Could a nationalized, centralized, government-controlled cryptocurrency work? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images Courtesy of Pexels, Wikimedia Commons

The post Russia to Issue First State-Backed Cryptocurrency ‘CryptoRuble’ appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

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