Yandex.Money, one of Russia’s leading virtual currencies – in Russian: Yandex.Dengi – announced last month a new step toward integrating its electronic currency with bank systems.
Users can now replenish their virtual currency accounts using bank cards issued by Russian banks. To add funds to a virtual account, they only need to indicate their bank card information on the Yandex.Money website and enter a code received by SMS. Yandex will charge them 49 rubles ($1.60) for the transaction, in addition to a potential commission fee certain banks may impose.
Yandex.Money’s General Director Evgeniya Zavalishina explained the increasing demand for this type of account replenishment is being driven by the growing popularity of crowdfunding and other person-to-person money transfers.
“A critical mass of electronic payment users see replenishment from their bank accounts as the most convenient method,” she added.
Over the last few years, Yandex.Money has developed a number of functions to integrate its electronic wallet to bank accounts. It enabled its users to register their banking cards to make online purchases using Yandex.Money; then it allowed them to transfer funds from their Yandex.Money accounts to any bank account with a Visa or MasterCard card.
Last year, the company announced a partnership with MasterCard to issue a debit card tied to Yandex.Money accounts.
Yandex.Money claims more than 13 million accounts as of early 2013, with approximately 9,000 new accounts being opened every day. Since the end of last year, the company has been co-owned by Yandex, the Russian search giant, and Sberbank, the national savings bank.
