Mongolian underdogs IHC in danger? Founding members arrested

*Updated 7/2-23 14:00 (CET)

Everyone loves a good underdog story, right?

Leicester defying the odds and winning the Premier League in 2016, the Finns fighting off a heavy-stacked Soviet army in the “Winter War” of 1939, and maybe the most renowned of all; David vs. Goliath.

In CS:GO we have IHC.

Despite having a minimum of top-tier experience and the fact that they are competing in arguably the least competitive region in world, the Mongolians still managed to deliver two stellar upsets against the superstars from FURIA and Cloud9 in the span of three days.

In trouble of losing their backing?

However, the fairy tale could very well end up reaching its final chapter before it even got really excited.

According to the UB Post, Mongolia’s so-called leading English-language news outlet, three founders of IHC (Inflation Hedging Coin), have been arrested and accused of 'misappropriating their funds and laundering the income earned by manipulating the market'.

One of the individuals being charged is Munkhjin Otgonbaatar, who CS:GO2asia.com labelled as IHC Esports’ Chief Financial Officer back in March last year.

It’s not clear what will happen in this case, but it’s not unlikely at all to think that it will have severe consequences for the CS:GO division if the prosecuted party is sentenced.

Explainer: IHC is a decentralized cryptocurrency based on blockchain technology. Currently, the price of an IHC coin is down 96.82% since its birth.

Source: Coinbase

Double upsets

As previously mentioned, the Mongolians from IHC are the talk of the town in CS:GO right now after the likeable underdogs delivered not one but two super impressive upsets against the superstars from FURIA and Cloud9.

In the span of five days, IHC has stunned the competition and the viewers at home during the prestigious IEM Katowice showcasing that they can compete against the very best in the game. The results have meant that IHC now sits just one spot outside of top 20 on the world ranking, while fielding a very young roster with an average age of 22.2 years.

The journey of IHC

IHC Esports entered competitive Counter-Strike in March last year when they acquired the entirety of Checkmate’s roster led by current in-game leader Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren. The acquisition was announced only seven days after the Mongolians had secured themselves a spot at the RMR qualifier for PGL Major Antwerp.

At the Asian/Oceanic RMR, IHC did what they knew best taking took down the heavy favourites from Renegades and TYLOO to book a ticket to the prestigious $1 Million Major in Belgium – being the first Mongolian team in history to attend a CS:GO Major.

IHC after securing an IEM Rio Major berth - ANNIHILATION, sk0r, Techno4K, kabal, maaRaa, Bart4K, bLitz (from left to right) - Credit: Sarah Cooper and ESL

Consecutive Major appearances

Six months later and we’re now in the South American metropole Rio de Janeiro, where IHC once again has managed to qualify for yet another Major – this time it was IEM Rio. Here the underdogs showed an incredible spirit by defeating the two-timer Major winner Marcelo “coldzera” David and his 00Nation squad and also pushing OG and the future champions from Outsiders to the limit.

Fast forward to 2023. A year that could end up being bLitz and company’s big breakthrough year in CS:GO, which their impressive victories over FURIA and Cloud9 are a massive testament to.

It’s still not clear where the IHC boys will land, but at the time of writing they’re once again testing themselves against some of CS:GO’s biggest superstars FaZe in yet another David vs. Goliath battle.

We have reached out to IHC Esports to get a comment for this article but they haven’t returned in time of publication.

*Updated the article so it now says that it was three founders of IHC being arrested, and not four.