A potential class-action suit against bitcoin mining firm KnCMiner is beginning to take shape.
California-based attorney Charlotte C Lin has announced that her firm is investigating unlawful activities related to the sale and distribution of KnCMiner’s Titan and Neptune mining products. These include breach of contract, false advertisement and public misrepresentation, which were detailed on the initiative’s official website.
KnCMiner, which raised $14m in Series A funding last month, has faced complaints from customers regarding late shipments, defective hardware and other business practices in the past.
Lin’s firm specializes in areas of personal law such as employment and immigration, and in recent months has become more directly involved in the digital currency industry. Her law firm also accepts payments in bitcoin, litecoin and dogecoin.
Lin released a press statement to CoinDesk saying that the move stemmed from what she characterized as a growing chorus of dissatisfied miners.
She explained:
“I myself have a lot of colleagues and friends who are actively engaged in mining, trading cryptocurrencies, or own mining equipment. I have heard many complaints from them about not getting refunds back, equipment not working, or under-delivering hashing power.”
Her office added that it is still determining what, if any, damages will be sought as a result of the possible class action.
Notably, Lin appeared recently at the Hashers United conference in Las Vegas where miners discussed the potential suit and, in some cases, pledged their support to the effort.
KnCMiner director of marketing and public relations Nanok Bie confirmed with CoinDesk that the company is aware of the potential class-action suit taking shape.
Bie stated that the bitcoin mining industry, and the ecosystem as a whole, is “a high-pressure business with a lot of strong feelings”, but argued that the class action suit being explored by Lin’s office will not succeed.
“There is no basis for legal action,” Bie said, later adding, “There’s a lot of these things happening in the business. We are, on the contrary, a transparent and honest company. We show journalists around our facilities, and our final accounts are public.”
For now, no actual legal measures have been taken, and as Lin’s office noted in its press statement, it is reaching out to customers and building out its case. Though short on specifics, the statement said that more updates on its case against KnCMiner are pending on the potential suit’s official website.
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Original author: Stan Higgins
