This Is BitCoen, The First ‘Kosher’ Crypto-Currency
By Ari Feldman August 10, 2017
A Russian entrepreneur has unveiled a “kosher” cryptocurrency called BitCoen.
In two months, when BitCoen has its “initial coin offering,” the cryptocurrency will join the ranks of Bitcoin, Ethereum and more than 900 other digital currencies that are traded directly between investors over the internet. The project is the brainchild of Viacheslav Semenchuk, a self-described “serial entrepreneur.”
The Russian news site CNews reported that the currency is being called “kosher” because 10% of its profits will be set aside to be used as interest-free loans for Jews. The currency will be accessible on Shabbat, but Semenchuk said that BitCoen was still kosher because its system is automated.
The currency will also be overseen by a “Council of Six,” a group of prominent Jewish leaders, according to Semenchuk. Any change to the currency would have to be ratified by the council. Semenchuk declined to identify the people on the council or any other investors.
BitCoen is an usual cryptocurrency because it will be centrally controlled. Bitcoin, created in 2009, is a peer-to-peer currency, with no central bank. New bitcoins can be created by anyone with sufficient computing power, in a process known as “mining.” BitCoen transactions will also be peer to peer, but only the currency’s council will have the power to issue new BitCoens.
Semenchuk told CNews that he has invested $500,000 of his own money into the project. He expects the currency to reach a capitalization of $1.5 billion in two years. According to the website, BitCoens will be available for $1 each starting October 9.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter, @aefeldman.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
