Customers are suing Compass Mining for over $2 million, alleging scams, after the business cut ties with Russian hosting business Bit River and failed to return customers’ Bitcoin machines, citing a non-applicable United States sanction as the reason.According to a court document filed on Jan. 17, Compass Mining released a notification in April 2022 that it has actually terminated its”relationships and dealings with Bit River” due to the sanctions enforced by Executive Order 14024. It is declared that Compass”did not offer”to return or perhaps retrieve the possessions its clients entrusted the business with, hosted at Bit River’s facilities in Russia.However, it was specified that it is” false”

that the mining devices ‘return would violate Executive Order 14024, which restricts transactions with approved entities.The court document kept in mind that Compass has”both the right and obligation to effect the return of its customers’miners.” Compass representatives satisfied clients’concerns with hostility, saying that it is “unable to carry out and even help with”any service negotiations with Bit River.When its consumers had no alternative however to call Bit River, the Russian company presumably pointed them back to Compass. Bit River agents responded to those that reached out: “From a legal point of view, Bit River’s contract is with Compass, and all devices is owned

by Compass. Hence you should resolve all questions directly with Compass.”The court file kept in mind that Compass needs to have disclosed to Bit River that they were”merely the middleman”and that the devices were paid for and owned by the plaintiffs themselves.The collaboration with Bit River was initially planned to make it possible for Compass’customers to host their machines at Bit River’s facilities to take advantage of”enterprise-grade,

low-cost and low-carbon cryptocurrency mining facilities in Russia.” Related: Only for foreign trade: Bank of Russia stands against complimentary crypto financial investment The court file even more mentioned that Compass’promise of its machines'”uptime of 95 %”was inaccurate, specifying that it was in fact “closer to 50-60 %.”In some instances, miners were not online at all for weeks or months at a time.In July 2022, Compass was the very first mining company to reveal task cuts amid the ongoing crypto winter season. The firm laid off 15%of its employees while top executives and staff took major pay cuts.