Russia's largest search engine Yandex is in love with Bitcoin

Author: Velvet Gold Mine Image source: Dazhi

Russia's largest search engine and Internet service provider Yandex intends to introduce Bitcoin into their financial platform Yandex.Money, so that traders on the platform can accept Bitcoin payments.

At Finnopolis, a forum for new financial technologies held in Kazan, Russia, Yandex.Money CEO Maria Gracheva announced that the company is working on developing a Bitcoin payment service. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, the platform's media relations manager Nora Kirkizh explained that Bitcoin is a perfect fit for the payment services provided by Yandex.Money, which include more than 76,000 online stores, e-wallets, and online banking services on the platform.

"We will pay great attention to virtual currencies," the Yandex team said in a magazine interview. "The technology used by Bitcoin can be applied to other areas," Kirkizh said, "For example, Yandex.Money provides payment services for online stores on the platform. Through this service, merchants can accept consumers' purchases through bank cards, e-wallets, online banking and other forms of payment. In fact, Bitcoin can perfectly complete this series of processes. Consumers can easily complete payments on any website by using the payment service provided by Yandex. However, Russian law is still restrictive on virtual currencies, and we cannot use it as we please."

Legality of Bitcoin in Russia

Although many Russian companies have shown great interest in Bitcoin and its advantages, Russia has still not concluded the legal nature of Bitcoin. Although the Russian Central Bank prohibits the use of Bitcoin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Bitcoin can be used in "certain accounts."

Since the legal definition of Bitcoin is still undetermined, the Yandex team plans to wait for relevant authorities and governments to agree that companies or organizations can use Bitcoin before taking action.

“Different institutions have different attitudes towards Bitcoin. For example, the Central Bank of Russia prohibits its use, but other institutions and organizations are interested in Bitcoin and want the public to know more about its benefits. We still cannot predict the fate of Bitcoin in Russia, and we don’t know whether there will be a chance to legalize it,” Kirkizh said.

Yandex.Money currently has more than 22 million users, with 12,000 new accounts opened every day. Yandex believes that Bitcoin’s efficiency in processing payment transactions will be of great benefit to financial platforms and can also serve as an alternative to credit cards and bank payments.

"Virtual currency has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it is a cheap technology that is easy to operate, and once it is legalized, basically all payment service providers can quickly implement this technology," the Yandex team continued.

However, the team also expressed their concerns. They worry that most users will not actively convert their currency into virtual currency. Yandex is considering integrating the platform with Bitcoin if Bitcoin is legalized in Russia and the industry develops.

"Virtual currency advocates are still a minority, and currently, people are more likely to understand 'cash'-based shopping. In order to convert real money into virtual currency, users need some extra motivation and more time. But this will slow down the development of block chain technology to a certain extent," Kirkizh said.