Battle for Bitmain: Saga at China’s leading mining-machine maker a spotlight on inner turmoil
Bitmain’s plight highlights coming upheaval and reckoning for cryptocurrency mining, a backbone for the wider industry
The saga at China’s Bitmain Technologies continues. The co-founder Jihan Wu has regained his status as the legal representative of the company.
That came after the co-founder Micree Zhan allegedly hired guards to take over the company’s Beijing office and replaced Wu as the legal representative.
That battle for control between the two founders has not been good for the company. Bitmain, among the largest Bitcoin-mining-machine makers, once a shining start of the industry, recently cancelled a partnership to operate a facility in Texas for generating cryptocurrency. Bitmain has also laid off half its people.
Bitmain Technologies recently also confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, after aborted IPO plans in Hong Kong, although there has been on news on that issue for months.
All of that had happened amid a pandemic and the disruption to supply chains that have not been a good time for miners and those who make the machines — perhaps the lone aspect of the cryptocurrency world dependent on factories and physical supply lines. Bitmain’s plight highlights coming upheaval and reckoning for cryptocurrency mining, a backbone for the wider industry.
In an update to employees after regaining control, Wu said: “Since 2020, the management’s feud has damaged Bitmain’s market shares and its brand image. We have lost customers and employees were forced to take sides.”
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Canada: central bank fintech pointwoman not seeking second term
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Bitcoin is at $10,856 as of 10 a.m. Sunday, Eastern Time. It was higher in early trading on Friday, according to CoinDesk, just below the $11,000 mark that cryptocurrency analysts are now pegging as a key psychological hurdle. Traders have turned more bullish, with prices up 6.3 per cent since Sept. 14.