Bosnia and Herzegovina: Schoenherr assists UniCredit Bank a.d. Banja Luka in winning a dispute with Bitminer Factory

In its 18 April 2023 ruling, the Higher Commercial Court in Banja Luka accepted UniCredit Bank a.d. Banja Luka's appeal against the first-instance decision ordering it to pay Bitminer Factory damages predominantly consisting of lost profit and default interest.

In 2019, Bitminer Factory filed a lawsuit before the District Commercial Court in Banja Luka claiming damages for unjustified termination of its bank accounts. The company alleged that termination of the bank accounts obstructed its initial coin offering (ICO) relating to a start-up renewable-energy-powered cryptocurrency mining project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Schoenherr was engaged by UniCredit Bank a.d. Banja Luka when the first-instance judgment was issued, led the appeal proceedings and advised the appellant and its shareholder UniCredit SpA on, among other things, related regulatory aspects of this dispute.

The Schoenherr team was led by Matija Vojnović and included Nataša Lalatović Đorđević, Vladimir Markuš, Dušan Obradović, Vojimir Kurtić, Jelena Arsić and Minela Šehović.

The Vila law firm is representing UniCredit Bank a.d. Banja Luka in relation to the criminal charges that the bank filed against Bitminer Factory, its former director and shareholder Darko Šljivar, the quantum economic expert and the interpreter.