  For the first time a Vanadium-based crystal was operated as cryogenic
particle detector. The scintillating low temperature calorimetric technique was
used for the characterization of a 22 g YVO$_4$ crystal aiming at the
investigation of the 4-fold forbidden non-unique $\beta^-$ decay of $^{50}$V.
The excellent bolometric performance of the compound together with high light
output of the crystal makes it an outstanding technique for the study of such
elusive rate process. The internal radioactive contaminations of the crystal
are also investigated showing that an improvement on the current status of
material selection and purification are needed, $^{235/238}$U and $^{232}$Th
are measured at the level of 28 mBq/kg, 1.3 Bq/kg and 28 mBq/kg, respectively.
In this work, we also discuss a future upgrade of the experimental set-up which
may pave the road for the detection of the rare $^{50}$V $\beta^-$ decay.
