UPDATE: Russian deputy offers to build cryptocurrency mining city

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MOSCOW, Nov 16 (PRIME) -- A deputy of Russia’s State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, Boris Chernyshov, has offered to create a city in the country to produce cryptocurrencies, news agency RT said on Thursday.

“A mining city will help people earn money, buy flats and other things. It will replenish the country’s budget through taxes. If we build such a settlement on the border, for example, with China, it will spark a huge interest; there will be investments from abroad. It’s a driver, point of growth,” Chernyshov said.

The city should be created in Siberia or in the Far East, in vicinity to one of the biggest hydroelectric power station, he said.

Cryptocurrency mining, which currently lacks legislation, is an important direction of innovative development, and the Russian mining city could evolve into a technological cluster competing with the U.S.’ Silicon Valley.

Vladimir Gutenev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma’s committee for the economic policy, said the idea put forward by Chernyshov seems to be crowd-pleasing and implies serious risks.

“I don’t simply back up the idea of my colleague. I think it conveys a certain portion of risks and I could assume that this initiative takes roots in general relevance of the topics of cryptocurrencies and digitalization,” he said.

“But such an idea conveys big risks. I think it’s a populist move somehow that would bring no preferences either to the city or its citizens, because it’s unfeasible.”

On the contrary, Gutenev is a partisan of blockchain, “which is a very interesting technology that should be used, among others, to get back the Russian money that was earlier taken abroad.”

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