Viber, a popular messenger in Russia, plans to launch its own cryptocurrency in our country. About this in an interview with Kommersant told the head of the company Jamel Agaua.
Viber cryptocurrency goes to Russia
In recent months, we have been tightly focused on cryptocurrencies from Facebook and Telegram, but Viber's plans have long been known. Let the messenger not have such a high profile as the two above-mentioned competitors, but the fact remains that it has a huge audience in Russia, and soon it can gain access to cryptocurrency.
In his interview, Agaua noted that in order to launch cryptocurrency on the global stage, it is necessary to solve many legal issues. At the moment, the regulators of many countries have not yet decided on how they should relate to new financial instruments.
The reason for this is the frank slowness and slowness of financial supervisors: they are used to the existing mechanisms and did not pay due attention to progressive technologies. The result is a situation in which business is ready to develop the digital industry, but governments are not.
What is stopping the launch of Rakuten Coin in the world?
The cryptocurrency of the messenger should be called Rakuten Coin, taken from the company-owner of Viber. Despite the fact that this organization is located in Japan, it is not yet planned to launch a digital currency in its homeland. If everything goes smoothly, Russia could be the first country to appear in Rakuten Coin.
According to various sources, the Viber user base in Russia is about 50 million people. Despite the fact that the messenger is inferior to WhatsApp in this indicator, the audience is really huge. Another question is what will be the demand for cryptocurrency among these people. Mostly the messenger is used by older people, among whom the interest in innovative financial services is not as high as we would like.
Finally, Agaua said that now his company is closely monitoring the fate of the Libra cryptocurrency from Facebook . Moreover, the messenger decided not to take any steps on the world stage until the position of regulators regarding the Zuckerberg project becomes clear. This decision seems logical, given the general uncertainty and risks inherent in the path of pioneers.
Publication date 09/26/2019
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