Customers Sue Compass Mining for $2M Over Unreturned Bitcoin Machines
• A group of customers is attempting to sue Compass Mining for over $2 million for failure to return their Bitcoin machines after cutting ties with a Russian hosting company.
• The original complaint stems from a partnership between Compass Mining and Bit River which was intended to allow Compass’ customers to host their machines at Bit River’s facilities.
• The judge has given the plaintiffs two weeks to file a second amended complaint.
A group of customers has recently filed a complaint against Compass Mining for not returning their Bitcoin mining machines after the company cut ties with a Russian hosting provider. The lawsuit seeks $2 million in compensation and was filed in the United States District Court of Southern Florida.
The dispute began when Compass Mining and Bit River formed a partnership to allow Compass’ customers to host their machines at Bit River’s facilities. This was meant to take advantage of enterprise-grade, low-cost and low-carbon cryptocurrency mining facilities in Russia. However, in April 2022, Compass Mining terminated its relationship with Bit River due to sanctions imposed by Executive Order 14024. The complaint alleges that Compass Mining failed to disclose to Bit River that it was only the middleman, not the owner of its customers’ machines.
In the complaint, the customers argued that Compass Mining’s explanation that the return of the machines would violate Executive Order 14024 was false. The customers also alleged that Compass Mining was unhelpful in helping them retrieve their machines. As such, the customers are seeking $2 million in compensation for the return of their machines.
The judge has given the plaintiffs two weeks to file a second amended complaint. Until then, the case remains in limbo. It remains to be seen whether Compass Mining will be held liable for failing to return its customers’ machines after cutting ties with Bit River.
