Gutov, who works in a Moscow-based staff-outsourcing firm by day, is among a growing number of Russians who have embraced mining as the price of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether has soared.
The largest digital currency now accounts for about 46% of total crypto market value of $2.3 trillion, down from roughly 70% at the start of the year, according to tracker CoinGecko.
Bitcoin remains the biggest cryptocurrency but the momentum in other tokens is drawing increasing interest, such as Ether, which breached $3,000 for the first time Monday after quadrupling this year.
Dogecoin, a token started as a joke in 2013 but now a social-media favorite touted by the likes of Elon Musk, has surged 15,000% to a market value of around $50 billion.