Bitmain chief plots cryptocurrency comeback after ousting of co-founder
- The company’s billionaire chief executive, Wu Jihan, is touting new sales initiatives to attract clients
- Bitmain is grappling with increased competition from smaller rivals Canaan and MicroBT
Bitmain Technologies’ billionaire chief executive, Wu Jihan, is back in the driver’s seat after the ousting of his co-founder, touting new sales initiatives to attract clients as the company fends off rivals.
Wu hosted a client meeting on Saturday, according to attendees who asked not to be identified because the event was private. It was his first public appearance since a power struggle six weeks ago, when he announced as founder and chairman that his co-founder Micree Zhan Ketuan was no longer with the Beijing-based company.
That also marked Wu’s re-emergence as the company’s chief executive, following his loss of control to Zhan, who had held de facto leadership at Bitmain from March until his resignation.
Wu and other Bitmain executives announced at the event new sales initiatives to lure customers, including a promise to seek deposits as low as 20 per cent for those who buy its bitcoin mining rigs in large bulk, the attendees said. Usually, such deposits are 50 per cent or full payment in advance is required. The latest models from Bitmain cost between US$1,000 to $2,000.
“The Bitmain you are familiar with is back,” read a presentation slide from the gathering, which took place in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan province and a hub for local cryptocurrency miners.
Nishant Sharma, a Bitmain spokesman, declined to comment.
