Kremlin-backed social community VK will shut its NFT platform this month, following a yr of deepening losses and a deliberate $1.36 billion share difficulty to scale back debt.
Russian social media firm VK plans to close down its market for non-fungible tokens, VK NFT Hub, on April 15, the group stated, ending a service that was launched in December 2022. In a public announcement, customers have been instructed to switch their tokens to exterior wallets earlier than the deadline.
After April 15, the particular visible markers on VK related to NFTs — small neon diamonds that appeared on avatars — shall be eliminated, leaving customers who bought NFTs for this function with nothing. The NFT group added that current content material within the VK NFT group will stay, although it’s unclear whether or not VK plans to return to NFTs or digital belongings sooner or later.
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The closure comes as VK faces monetary stress as the corporate’s internet loss practically tripled in 2024 to 94.9 billion roubles (round $1.1 billion), up from 34.3 billion roubles in 2023. Amid declining monetary well being, the corporate revealed plans to boost as much as 115 billion roubles by way of a brand new share issuance to scale back debt.
It’s understood that the corporate will direct the obtained funds to decreasing its debt burden. As crypto.information reported earlier, March marked a turning level, with a collection of market shutdowns intensifying the state of affairs. These included South Korean tech big LG shutting down its LG Artwork Lab, in addition to the closures of X2Y2, and Bybit’s NFT market, amongst others.
Learn extra: NFT gross sales slip 5.3% to $100.9m, Bitcoin NFT gross sales drop 30%
