The concept of mining Bitcoin has always attracted big money. With that big money come some interesting names, such as John McAfee. It now appears one of President Putin’s advisors wants to raise US$100m through an ICO. Said crowdfunding action will be used to set up the Russian Mining Company. It is an institution focusing on mining Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They will also use domestically developed mining, hardware, although it remains to be seen who will build it. Russia has no known ASIC manufacturers to date.
Russia is not a region people associated with Bitcoin mining. Even though the company is changing its stance on cryptocurrency, there are still uncertainties. If it is up to President Putin’s advisor Dmitry Marinichev, that will change soon. In fact, he wants to set up a full-fledged Bitcoin mining facility in the country very soon. To do so, he will need US$100m in startup capital, though. Said money is designed to be raised through an ICO, which isn’t entirely surprising. Whether or not that venture will be successful, remains to be determined.
Russia has Ambitious Bitcoin Mining Goals
What is peculiar is how this venture will use domestically developed ASIC chips. So far, there is no well-known Russian Bitcoin hardware manufacturer. Then again, up until a few months ago, Bitcoin was borderline illegal in the country. That situation has now changed, yet it remains to be seen how this situation will evolve.Given the recent Bitcoin price surge, this venture is not entirely surprising. Everyone wants to capitalize on the Bitcoin hype, that much is evident.
The ICO itself will take place in two lots. A pre-sale is currently underway, with the stage two sale beginning on August 28. It is a rather unique venture, to say the least. Not because it is a cryptocurrency mining ICO, as those exist already. Instead, it shows how Russia is slowly but surely getting on board with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Creating a 20-megawatt facility just for this purpose is pretty significant, to say the least. Especially for a country which had no real intent to look favorably on Bitcoin these past few years.
According to Marinichev, Russia can reach up to 30% of the global mining capacity. That is quite an ambitious goal, no doubt. Right now, most of the Bitcoin mining is dominated by the US and China. Russia wants to become a player in this industry, which is good to see. Controlling vast amounts of Bitcoin mining power will ultimately lead to more centralization, though. That is something to avoid at all costs, to say the least. It will be intriguing to see if this ICO can reach its intended goal. Given the success of such ventures recently, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
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