Putin helps Russian Entrepreneurs for Bitcoin Mining

A company co-owned by one of President Vladimir Putin’s internet advisers plans to raise the cryptocurrency equivalent of as much as $100 million in a push to help Russian entrepreneurs challenge China in bitcoin mining.

Russian Miner Coin is holding a so-called initial coin offering, where investors will use units of ethereum or bitcoin to buy new RMC tokens. These new tokens will have rights to 18 percent of the revenue earned with the company’s mining equipment, according to a presentation posted on its website.
RMC plans to use semiconductor chips designed in Russia for use in satellites to minimize power consumption in computers for crypto-mining, Putin’s internet ombudsman, Dmitry Marinichev, said at at a news conference in Moscow.

“Russia has the potential to reach up to 30 percent share in global cryptocurrency mining in the future,” Marinichev said, adding that $10 million from the proceeds of the ICO may be spent developing the processors.