Gomining’s Kirill Solovev Says Bitcoin Mining Trades at a Discount, Urges New Payment Rails

Kirill Solovev, founder and chairman of Gomining, views the market disparity as an accumulation opportunity.

As the network shifts toward relying on transaction fees rather than block subsidies, mining’s geographic makeup is transforming. Mining has concentrated heavily within the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. Following its 2021 mining ban, China lost dominance it will struggle to regain, leaving North America with a distinct infrastructure advantage.

This long-term shift represents more than a structural transition; it points toward a potential realignment of global economics. Solovev cautions that history often defies optimistic projections, recalling that many believed international tribunals before World War I meant humanity had outgrown large-scale warfare.

“I keep that lesson in mind — which is why I try to speak cautiously: not ‘this is how it will be,’ but ‘such a scenario is possible,'” Solovev explained.

However, he suggests modern advancements could alter historical patterns.

Gomining’s GoBTC protocol features a 0.2% merchant fee, instant retail approval, and final on-chain settlement within 12 hours. The architecture relies on a 2-of-3 multi-signature scheme split between the user, Gomining, and a regulated recovery custodian. While this moves away from pure single-key self-custody, Solovev defends the setup as a necessary retail compromise.

“Our solution is non-custodial, but it’s a deliberate engineering compromise,” Solovev said. “To make transactions instant and cheap, we really do need one key out of three as a co-signer.”

Gomining accesses the funds only when a transaction enters the mempool. Because any two signatures can authorize a transfer, the firm cannot spend funds single-handedly, and users can always withdraw assets independently.

“I won’t claim this is equivalent to pure single-key self-custody — it isn’t,” Solovev said. “But ‘non-custodial’ here means exactly what it should mean: neither we nor anyone else can dispose of your satoshis without you. It’s a compromise for the sake of speed and convenience on Layer-1, and I consider it justified for retail payments.”

Beyond speed, keeping transactions entirely on-chain yields specific privacy benefits by decoupling the moment of payment from the moment of execution in the mempool. This protects users with large balances from deanonymization.

“Any notable step forward draws criticism, and that’s normal,” Solovev said. “But I prefer to describe our compromise honestly rather than oversell it.”