Sina will reportedly introduce Weibi, a virtual currency for its microblogging site, Weibo, in a few months.
Virtual currencies are increasingly being used on gaming and social networking sites to buy virtual products and services provided by third-party application developers.
Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that the Chinese company’s first effort to monetise the platform will take place in the third quarter.
The source told Reuters, "Weibi is in the development stage now, but it will be launched very soon, in the third quarter, to a small portion of users before a full roll-out later in the year."
Sina has already posted details of the virtual currency for third-party application developers.
It is believed that the value of the new virtual currency would be equal to that of yuan.
Sina launched Weibo about two years ago as a rival to microblogging site Twitter, which is blocked in China. Weibo is said to have over 140 million users.
China boasts of the world’s most populous Internet market, with over 450 million online users.
Sina has also said that it is planning to launch an English version of Weibo in future.
Sina is run by Sina Corporation which was founded in 1999 in mainland China. The company’s global financial headquarters have been based in Shanghai since 2001.
Last month, company spokesman Mao Taotao said that the new service in English will similar to its Chinese-language Weibo microblog.
"We’re now developing an English-language microblog service, but there is no timetable to launch it," Mao said.
"The service is aimed at overseas users, but we don’t target users from a particular country."
