IHC esports, the Mongolian esports organisation that was founded back in 2021 has been facing some controversy following the reported arrest of three founders of a major partner.
On February 3, 2023, the UB Post reported that Ih Bit Global CEO, Gantig Bayarmagnai, COO Munkhjin Otgonbaatar and chairman Erkhembayar Bayarsaikhan would be facing charges of “misappropriating funds.” This came after numerous customers who had purchased the crypto token Inflation Hedging Coin filed complaints.
Customers had filed complaints after they had purchased IHC coins and lost money. The report states that police then raided the homes and offices of those in question on charges of laundering income earned by manipulating the market.
Crypto controversy
One citizen claimed that they had bought the IHC coin for 142 million MNT ($40,488) however this number dramatically fell, the citizen claimed that “they said it is a gold-backed coin that would not fall from its issued price. Take it even if it falls. I had money in my account so I took it every day. I believed in what Otgonbaatar Munkhjin was saying. 142 million MNT was reduced to two million MNT ($570). There are probably thousands of victims like me.”
ZEUS esports entered into a partnership with Ih Bit Global in 2021, part of the deal was a rebrand to IHC esports. News of these arrests caused concern for the future of IHC esports which is one of Mongolia’s biggest esports organisations.
IHC statement
IHC esports’ chairman, Dave Lee issued an official statement to address concerns. “The management of IHC esports would like to address recent events and express our deep regret over the dissemination of misleading information concerning our organisation. We would like to categorically state that certain individuals have no involvement with our management and operations. We deny these allegations in the strongest possible terms.”
The full statement is rather vague; although it claims that the information is misleading, it fails to mention any specifics of what has or hasn’t happened or who may or may not be involved. No mention of Ih Bit Global was directly made or any word on the IHC token.
IHC esports has found success in its CS:GO team, and HLTV places them at world ranking 21. At the recent IEM Katowice event, IHC surprised fans with a series of wins. They beat team Cloud9, paiN and world number 9 team FURIA. The team’s strong performance was finally cut short after being eliminated from IEM Katowice by team FaZe.
Esports is looking to see significant growth in the future with the goal of becoming a mainstream form of entertainment.
