Bitmain Technologies
Bitmain Technologies, the popularly known Bitcoin ASIC manufacturer, saw it’s CEO and founder Jihan Wu, step down from his role as the manager and legal representative for the company as CFO Liu Luyao took his place.
This move from the privately-owned Beijing based company comes as a surprise since, in October 2019, Wu had very publicly ousted co-founder Micree Zhan from the company taking over as legal representative himself and dismissing Micree Zhan of all his operating positions. In China, the role of a Legal Representative is that of crucial importance as it acts as the legal personification of the company. The ousting had been in the plans for a while as CoinGeek reported an intense conflict had been brewing for a while between Wu and Zhan. Zhan has been pursuing lawsuits against his claimed “illegal” firing from the company, saying that the entire event seemed like a betrayal since the company initially intended to be like Wu’s and Zhan’s child. Shortly, just nearly two months after Zhan’s takeover, he has now stepped down from the role.
Jihan Wu had his own near supplant from his company when he failed to pay off his bet on BCH-ABC (Bitcoin Cash – ABC) technology, reportedly driving the company towards significant losses. Their implementation of the technology chipped away at their competitive edge in the market. It allegedly cost them $400 million in the third quarter of 2018, resulting in Bitmain and Micree Zhan wanting to distance themselves from the trainwreck that Wu had brought about. Bitmain’s investors were also purportedly steering clear of the company after the disappointment with BCH-ABC and claimed that Jihan Wu had misrepresented numbers and supplied them with false information.
The new manager, legal representative and CFO Liu Luyao, is no rookie in the field either. In the past, he held the role of Vice President for the Investment Banking Department at China International Capital Corp. Ltd. He also holds an undergraduate degree from Peking University and a graduate degree from Tsinghua University.
Bitmain despite some of its more massive failures like the BCH-ABC technology which led them to suffer significant losses, shutter offices, undergoes deep layoffs; remain focused on their primary aim to build a long-term sustainable business that focuses on its core competencies, and expand its business organically and in an orderly fashion. The shift of recent major business roles in the company will still hopefully help to further their work towards these goals.