Jihan Wu gains the upper hand in the battle for Bitmain

September 15, 2020
By Hassan Maishera

The battle for the leadership of Bitmain continues between the two co-founders and Jihan Wu has gained a legal upper hand in the latest ruling

The co-founders of Bitcoin miner maker giant, Bitmain, have been locked in a battle for control over the past few months. Co-founders Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan have been in disagreement since October last year when Wu ousted Zhan. However, Zhan regained control of the company earlier this year, but the battle seems to be far from over.

In a turn of events, Zhan has been stripped of the legal representative and executive director position of the company, however, he remains a general manager of Bitmain.

According to China’s business registration record updated yesterday, Wu has once again regained his position and become the legal representative and executive director of Beijing Bitmain Technology, the operational entity of Bitmain.

Wu reaffirmed the status update in an announcement published on the WeChat account of Bitmain’s AntMiner brand earlier today. Wu added that Bitmain’s respect for Zhan remains in place despite the ongoing war between the two.

Battle for Bitmain drags on for a year

The internal power fight in Bitmain has been dragging on for nearly a year now. However, this latest development suggests that it might have come to a short-term end. The two co-founders have been locked in a power tussle for the past 11 months and it remains unclear if the battle will end soon. The two sides have a lawsuit in the Cayman Islands, where the parent company of Bitmain resides and the lawsuit is pending a final verdict.

Bitmain admitted that since the start of the year, management had damaged the company’s market shares and its global brand image. They have lost customers, and employees were forced to take sides between the two founders, with various negative news doing further damage to the image of the company.

Wu concluded that the company would now focus on regaining its status in the cryptocurrency world and sort out all its issues. The battle started when Wu removed Zhan from his role as the chairman, executive director and legal representative of the company, despite Zhan being the biggest shareholder. According to Wu, Bitmain had underperformed under the leadership of Zhan as they experienced a massive drop in bitcoin miner market share in 2019.

The year-long battle that ensued between Wu and Zhan has further affected the company as it lost some of its customers to rival Bitcoin miner manufacturers such as MicroBT and Canaan.