Russian Social Network VK to Support NFT Monetizing and Trading

Russian social network VKontakte (VK) will launch NFT support for users to monetize content. Users will be able to sell these NFTs on platforms like OpenSea.

Russian social network VKontakte has announced that it will support NFTs, according to media reports published on Feb 18. The technical director of the platform, Alexander Tobol, said in an interview that NFTs would be used to monetize user-generated content and protect copyrights. He also confirmed that VK would not create its own blockchain, rather acting as an intermediary and assistant.

With nearly 650 million users as of April 2021, VK is Russia’s most popular social networking platform. The aim appears to be getting NFTs to encourage user content creation and, by extension, the value generated from them. Tobol said,

“Our task is precisely to provide the ability to download content easily create an NFT token, then place it on the exchange. And here our task as the largest service in Russia for interacting with an audience with an incredible amount of user content is to provide it with this opportunity. And then you can trade on various platforms, be it Solanart, OpenSea or any then more stories.”

The platform does appear worried about infringing copyright when it comes to music and videos. To that end, VK will use its existing content ID system to verify the authorship of all downloaded music and videos. Tobol said that the VK’s NFT solution would work to ensure that copyright laws are obeyed.

NFT becoming a solution for monetizing content

VK’s entry into the NFT space is yet another well-known company looking to work with NFTs. This trend has been picking up in recent months, though it hasn’t been without pushbacks. The gaming industry in particular has been looking to work NFTs in their revenue model, as video games serve as a perfect way to incorporate the unique asset.

With NFTs, any kind of content can be monetized and gives the owner more control over the remuneration of the media. The music industry has taken to this in a heartbeat, with several music NFT platforms launching in recent times. Renowned artists from Eminem to The Weeknd have also launched NFTs.

NFTs remove the intermediaries in the content distribution process, sending more funds to the content creator. DJ Steve Aoki, a supporter of NFTs, earns more from NFTs than he does from music, though he remains quite the exception.