VKontakte (VK), the Russian equivalent to Meta (Facebook) with over 100 million users, integrates NFTs into the network. As reported by vesti.ru, VK’s technical director Alexander Tobol explained the integration further.
VK To Integrate NFTs
Instead of creating its own proprietary blockchain network, VK will serve as the middleman, like Twitter with its Ethereum-based NFT profile pictures.
“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,”
With this network-agnostic approach, users will be able to embed NFTs from a variety of NFT marketplaces, be it Solana’s Solanart or Ethereum’s OpenSea. Furthermore, Russian VK is upping the game regarding NFT security standards.
VK’s Content ID System To Work in Sync With NFTs
As you may have noticed, the NFT market is currently plagued with plagiarized NFTs. Artists often report their artwork stolen and minted without giving any credit to the original owner, including royalties. Unfortunately, this is par for the course with all digital assets. It is just too easy to copy-paste them for people to remain on the moral high ground.
This is the main reason why OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace with a $21.8 billion total trading volume, instituted an anti-fraud 50-item limit at the end of January. Initially, OpenSea was boasting about how easy it is for everyone to start minting NFTs. This year, OpenSea shifted its policy due to astonishing 80% abuse.
VK has its own Content ID system already in place. It verifies the authorship of all media files, from images and videos to music. Therefore, VK is confident in its NFT integration because it adds an additional layer of guaranteeing NFT uniqueness.
- Within the first security layer, NFT marketplaces clean up fakes and spam
- In the second layer, those that get through are caught by VK’s Content ID
Overall, this is quite significant news for the crypto market at large. Because NFTs are paid in crypto funds and their wrapped variants, they’ve been known to boost the two top cryptocurrencies — Ethereum and Bitcoin. Speaking of the latter, VK’s NFT move is likely in sync with President Putin’s recent shift toward Bitcoin.
Russian President, a Supporter of Crypto?
For years, the Western powers have been threatening to cut Russia off from SWIFT, the international banking network that makes the global payment system work. The West already financially isolated Iran. Predictably, Iran turned towards Bitcoin, just like Canadian truckers are now seeking cryptos when faced with the threat of frozen bank accounts.
It is no wonder then that Russian President Putin quashed the Central Bank of Russia’s repeated calls for a crypto ban. Instead, Russia is aiming to treat Bitcoin as a currency, which is a step above the way it is treated in the U.S., as a commodity. Russia’s Finance Ministry is presently submitting the crypto draft.
If it follows through, we may see a big inflow of funds into the crypto market, at least enough to offset the prevailing fearful market sentiment due to geopolitical tensions.
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