Kentucky Sen. Brandon Smith (R-Hazard) faces two separate lawsuits associated to the Bitcoin Mining and Restore Enterprise that he based in Letcher County, Kentucky.
Smith is Mohawk Power’s CEO and co-founder, and was pivoted from the coal cleanup enterprise in 2022 to ASIC repairs and different Bitcoin mining providers.
Native outlet, Chief of the Lexington Herald Ricky Dale Cole sued Smith in Letcher Circuit Court docket in January, reporting that he accused lawmakers of misrepresenting the worth of Mohawk Power.
Cole claims he has offered the warehouse to Mohawk and agrees to Smith to promote the property under market value in alternate for a 20% stake within the enterprise.
Nonetheless, Cole’s lawsuit claims that the corporate refuses to share details about its funds and that he has not profited from the transaction. He additionally claimed that Smith had made false guarantees and expressions.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and misrepresentation along with the case filed in November 2023 by Huobi-Subsidiary HBTPower, following the settlement with Mohawk Power in June 2023.
Based on the HBT allegations, Smith had signed a contract to work with HBTPower workers to coach his staff and purchase the corporate’s inside potential to restore Bitcoin mining machines.
Nonetheless, Smith and different Mohawk representatives finally requested HBTPower officers to depart the Mohawk property, and HBTPower claimed that they didn’t personal the warehouse when Smith signed a contract with a Chinese language firm.
Smith denied the allegations in opposition to him and filed counterclaims in opposition to each plaintiffs.
Regardless of the authorized challenges surrounding Mohawk’s pivots into the code, Smith stays optimistic about the way forward for the US and Kentucky business.
Smith helped make sure the passage of a number of crypto-related payments in Kentucky, together with the 2021 invoice that gives tax advantages for investments in cryptocurrency mining.
I am going to discuss Decryption In his skills as CEO of Mohawk Power, Smith mentioned he was “excited” to return to his mission of “job creation and coaching” as soon as the lawsuit is over.
“It’s unlucky that Huobi and its Shell subsidiary HBTPower have breached an eight-year contract and refused to start operations on the Mohawk plant, however Mohawk’s long-term plan doesn’t carry extra employment and expertise coaching to the area,” he mentioned. “Our countersuits to complaints clarify our place.”
Mohawk’s tough pivot got here throughout a interval when the US cryptocurrency mining sector witnessed speedy growth. The US Bitcoin mining web site rose 23% to 48 between 2022 and 2024.
This progress continues this yr, as Bitcoin hashrates has just lately confirmed to succeed in a brand new all-time excessive, in line with Shanon Squires, Compass Mining’s Chief Mining Officer.
“Within the US, that momentum is especially seen in states like Texas and Wyoming,” she mentioned. Decryption. “This growth seems to return primarily from current firms, not from new gamers coming into the market.”
Whereas we’re confirming that the US crypto business has change into more and more specialised lately, we generally have sooner efforts to “pop up and fade” than others.
She added, “Whereas Bitcoin mining was now not the ‘Wild West’, firms nonetheless must do their homework and work with established companions who’ve confirmed themselves by way of a number of cycles.”
