YooMoney
Russian electronic payment service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YooMoney branded as ЮMoney, (formerly Yandex.Money) is an e-commerce payment system. It is 100% owned by Sberbank and operates in Russia and nearby countries.
 | |
Native name | ЮMoney |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Yandex.Money |
| Founded | July 24, 2002 |
Key people | Ivan Glazachev, CEO |
| Services | E-commerce payment system |
| Owner | Sberbank |
| Website | yoomoney |
The company's headquarters are in Moscow. It has branch offices in Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.
History
The service was launched in 2002 as Yandex.Money (Russian: Яндекс.Деньги) by Yandex via a partnership with PayCash formed in 2000.[1][2]
In March 2007, Yandex acquired full ownership of the service.[1][3]
In March 2011, the service expanded to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.[2]
Beginning in February 2012, users were able to transfer money to Visa or Mastercard accounts.[4]
Also in February 2012, Yandex.Money became the preferred payment method in the Opera Mobile Store.[5]
In April 2012, Yandex Money began issuing debit cards on the Mastercard network.[6][7][8]
In October 2012, the company enabled making card payments via a miniature point of sale terminal attached to a user's smartphone.[9]
In July 2013, Sberbank acquired a 75% interest in Yandex.Money for $60 million, while Yandex retained a 25% interest.[10][11][12]
In 2013, the Yandex.Checkout service was launched (later rebranded as YooKassa).[13][14][15]
In May 2014, Yandex.Money was integrated as a payment option for merchants using Skrill.[16]
In October 2014, Nintendo began selling games via digital distribution through the service.[17]
In April 2016, the service began allowing near-field communication payments via its mobile app.[18]
In July 2016, the service launched payments via Apple Watch.[19][20]
In October 2016, the service began allowing payments via iMessage.[21][22] In November 2016, the service began working with Apple Pay.[23]
In March 2017, Ivan Glazachev became CEO of the service.[24][25]
In November 2017, the service launched Yandex.Gas, allowing users to pay for gas remotely, without leaving their cars.[26]
In March 2019, the service began allowing for accounts holding 10 major currencies; the service automatically determines the best currency in which to make a payment.[27][28][29]
In July 2019, the service launched "Ya.Streamer", allowing users to collect donations via streaming platforms, such as YouTube, Twitch, Smashcast, CyberHero, WASD.TV, Odnoklassniki, VK, Facebook, OBS Studio, and XSplit.[30]
In 2020, Sberbank acquired 100% of the service and it was rebranded to YooMoney.[31][32][33]
Legal issues
In 2011, the Federal Security Service required the company to disclose details of people who contributed to organizations run by Alexei Navalny, a leader of the opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia.[34][35] As required by law, the company disclosed information for 100 contributors who used the service.[36]
In 2016, the government of Russia allegedly put pressure on the company to close accounts used to raise money for Alexei Navalny.[37] The Russian Central Bank denied the allegations.[38]
In April 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury initiated sanctions on the service as part of international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[39]
