Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) seem to be going mainstream with lots of adoption in the real world. The latest reports indicate that Russia’s leading social media platform Vkontakte has revealed its plans to use nonfungible tokens and blockchain technology in its operations.
The social network platform said that the two technologies will be primarily used to monetize user-generated content together with protecting, Vesti.ru reports.
Based on a statement by Vkontakte’s technical director Alexander Tobol, Vkontakte will not develop an in-house blockchain. Instead, it will operate as an intermediary while helping with the implementation of the NFTs and blockchain initiative. Tobol said:
“It is easy to create an NFT, then list it on an exchange. And here, our task as the largest service in Russia for interaction with [an] audience, with an incredible amount of user-generated content, is to provide this opportunity,”
He also said that the emergence of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) is a majorly universal solution for the authors since the technology needs an assurance of uniqueness and copyright in different nations.
This development comes in the wake of the NFTs marketplaces recording the minting of a lot of plagiarized content. To help in fighting counterfeits, Vkontakte is ready to deploy a content ID infrastructure to validate the intellectual property of all the downloaded video and music content.
The NFTs plagiarism issues came up after the OpenSea marketplace said that around 80% of the NFTs minted for free on the platform are plagiarized. Elsewhere, the Cent marketplace suspended audio and photo NFTs over a massive volume of fake products.
Vkontakte’s venture comes after the news was leaked that social media giant Meta is also allegedly planning to add some NFT features on Instagram and Facebook.
Russia Aiming To Implement Crypto And NFTs Regulations
The social network’s move into the blockchain sector comes at a time when Russia appears to be grappling with creating a viable crypto regulatory infrastructure. On its part, the Bank of Russia wants all cryptos and digital assets banned while some legislators believe that Russia can benefit from the tax collected from the transactions executed in the crypto sector.
With several government agencies opposing the regulation of this sector, others support its regulation instead of a blanket ban. President Vladimir Putin has already decided to call on leading state agencies to come to a consensus as reported by Finbold. The president wants all regulatory agencies to agree on a way forward with matters regarding cryptos and digital assets.
Even though the nation’s central bank does not want anything to do with cryptos and other digital assets like NFTs citing criminal activities, government analysts say that Russia could collect a staggering 1 trillion rubles ($13 billion) yearly from the crypto sector if this nascent market is regulated.
Companies like Vkontakte and several others are taking the bold step and investing in the nascent digital spaces awaiting guidance on the rules and regulations that the government wishes to implement.
