$100 Million: Putin Advisor Targets Big Raise for Bitcoin Mining ICO

An internet advisor to Russian Vladimir Putin is trying to raise as much as $100 million in an initial coin offering.

AccessTimeIconAug 8, 2017 at 3:50 p.m. UTC
Updated Aug 18, 2021 at 6:38 p.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

An advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to raise as much as $100 million in an initial coin offering (ICO).

The funding effort for the "Russian Mining Company" was revealed this week by Dmitry Marinichev, who serves as the internet ombudsman to Putin's office.

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • According to a presentation published in tandem with the unveiling, the team behind the effort is planning to tap as much as 20 megawatts to power their mining farm, using chips developed domestically. Bitcoin mining is an energy intensive process by which new transactions are added to the blockchain, creating new tokens – 12.5 BTC, or roughly $42,000 at current prices – as a reward for the miner.

    The presentation details how the sale will take place in two parts: a pre-sale that began yesterday and will last until August 25. From there, a second-stage sale will occur between August 28 and September 2.

    The ICO is the first planned release on a new service jointly created by the Party for Growth, a Russian political partner, and the developers of the Waves blockchain platform. The initiative was first unveiled in June.

    Russian billionaire and party chairman Boris Titov, according a new blog post, remarked during a presser yesterday that the platform would act as a screening mechanism for projects hoping to launch ICOs.

    He told attendees:

    "...within the framework of the ICO-generator we will conduct the initial selection of projects, their legal and economic expertise, after which investors in the ICO market [can] be sure that these companies are working under our umbrella and not crooks."

    , which attended the press conference, reports that Marinichev struck an ambitious note about the mining venture's prospects.

    "Russia has the potential to reach up to 30 percent share in global cryptocurrency mining in the future," he was quoted as saying.

    If the offering does raise the target amount, it would represent one of an increasingly growing number of big-ticket ICOs that have occurred in recent months. According to data from CoinDesk's ICO Tracker, more than $1.6 billion has been raised through the ICO model to date.

    Image via Wikimedia

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.