Yandex’s online payment division announces Twym, enabling instant rubles transfers between Twitter users

Russian Internet giant Yandex has announced that its online payment’ division Yandex.Money has launched a new project called Twym, which will enable instant transfers of rubles between Twitter users with Yandex.Money accounts in Russia.

You may remember back in December, Yandex announced that it was to form a joint venture with the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, which would acquire 75% of the service for $60 million. The goal of the joint venture was to create “innovative online retail payment solutions,” Yandex said, adding they would release new products under the Yandex.Money brand shortly. And it seems that Twym is one such project.

How Twym works

To transfer money through Twitter, users must first link their Yandex.Money virtual wallet with their Twitter account. And, to send money, they must send a tweet with the recipient’s @username, the sum of money involved and mention @twymru. It should look a little something like this:

It goes without saying that both parties in the transaction must have a Yandex.Money account. If the recipient has an active Twym account, they get their cash instantly. If they don’t, they will be asked to activate Twym to receive the money.

I’m guessing the sender will need to check with the recipient first whether they have a Yandex.Money account and if they wish to receive their cash in this way, but certainly it’s a snappy way of transferring funds with a few deft touches of the Twitter app.

You can also set limits through your Wallet preferences just in case your Twitter account is compromised, though the absolute maximum (should you need it) is 100,000 rubles (about $3,300).

Interestingly, Yandex says that when someone retweets a Twym tweet, another transfer will automatically be made from their Yandex.Money account to the very same recipient. That, of course, could be a useful feature when raising money, for example, but I’m hoping there’s a way to switch this feature off.

Transfers can also be made private, simply by adding a letter “d” to the beginning of a tweet, which turns it into a direct message.

Twitter as a money-transfer tool isn’t a new concept. Back in December, Dwolla announced a new feature that would let users send money over Twitter, to take on Chirpify at its own game. And, just last month, Twitter and American Express said they were working on a new “pay by tweet” system, for accredited users to pay for goods.

Yandex.Money is among Russia’s largest e-payment services, with more than 13 million accounts (wallets). They claim more than 9,000 new accounts are added each day, processing more than 120,000 customer payments.

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