By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
It appears that Micree Zhan has been forced out of Bitmain by his CEO and co-founder Jihan Wu.
In what sounds like the makings of the plot of a telenovela series, top crypto billionaire and founder of cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain Micree Ketuan Zhan has been forced out of his own company where he holds about 60% control. CEO and fellow co-founder Jihan Wu has terminated all the day-to-day working positions and responsibilities that Micree Zhan had and held within the organization down to the deletion of his e-mail and denial of access to Bitmain’s premises.
Bitmain, meanwhile, had already released a statement about the matter backing Wu’s takeover:
“We believe under the leadership of Jihan, Bitmain will be back to its original mission statement, focus on core competence, expand business organically and orderly. Will become a world-class tech company”
Premier cryptocurrency investor Dovey Wan in a series of tweets described a blow-by-blow event of what went down.
#BitmainDrama episode 4 … 😱😱😱 this is now like a God Father level movie OMFG
"Micree Zhan's email was deleted and already banned from entering into the company's office by security"
"The whole HR department was completely cleared up with replacement from Jihan's own ppl"
— Dovey "Rug The Fiat" Wan (@DoveyWan) October 29, 2019
WOW THIS IS MORE DRAMATIC THAN I THOUGHT
Got this internal email from Bitmain where Jihan sent to the whole company, this is INTENSE
”Micree Zhan is dismissed from all operating positions from the company immediately. No one should take order from him or attend his meeting"👀 pic.twitter.com/aguM5Rzg1b
— Dovey "Rug The Fiat" Wan (@DoveyWan) October 29, 2019
In what has been an uneasy time at for the top management, a series of intrigues, entries, and exits have marked the past couple of months which has seen the IPO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency miner delayed. Wu himself abruptly stood down in November last year and held a non-executive position for a while as well.
Bitcoin Cash Growth
In addition to the corporate drama in what seems to be one of the stuff of conspiracy theories, the price of the cryptocurrency token Bitcoin Cash (BCH) jumped 10% in the last twenty-four hours. This may have been seen as a boon to many traders who hold the token in their portfolios but it is also one of the riskiest price rises as Zhan also has a significant amount of tokens which he could dump to depress the Bitcoin Cash markets as well.
Should Zhan decide to dump his 1.6 million tokens to strategically frustrate the Bitcoin Cash project it will frustrate several things for Wu who has been quite passionate about promoting Bitcoin Cash which has failed to live up to the expectations of the cryptospace.
The rising Bitcoin and prices have been a big plus for Bitmain as it has increased its cryptocurrency mining facilities with the recent announcement of the creation of the world’s largest mining facility in Texas USA.
This puts the mining company strategically ahead of its competitors which may have to take an arm and a leg to attain the levels which the cryptocurrency mining giant intends to reach. However, corporate politics being played presents the kinds of dangers that kill corporate heavyweights. Even though the reasons for the takeover aren’t yet clear, it promises to be an exciting time in the cryptospace as Samson Mow put it, the “Bitmain civil war is just starting.”