Jihan Wu steps down as Bitmain chief executive

Co-founder of the Chinese mining giant Bitmain, Jihan Wu, announced his departure as the company’s chief executive after protracted disputes with Mikri Zhang.

In an encrypted letter deciphered by The Block, Wu said that the disagreements with Mikri Zhang had been resolved in a peaceful and constructive manner.

Under the agreement, Zhang bought almost half of Wu’s Bitmain shares for $600 million. In turn, Jihan Wu stepped down as the company’s chief executive.

“To finance the stock purchase, Mikri obtained a $400 million loan from Bitmain and undertook to raise the remaining $200 million from external sources,” the letter says.

According to Wu, as of January 24, Bitmain had $327 million in fiat currency, which “was twice as much as was required by the holders of preferred shares to close the deal.”

“Bitmain has opened a new chapter with enormous opportunities ahead. As a co-founder of Bitmain, I have spent 2815 days enjoying the journey, during which I worked for the benefit of the company, receiving immense help and support from a multitude of users, colleagues, friends and investors. I sincerely bless Bitmain under Mikri’s leadership,” Wu wrote.

Regarding the Settlement Between Bitmain s Two Co Founders by ForkLog on Scribd

The conflict between the founders escalated in November 2019, when Wu, with shareholder backing, ousted Zhang from all positions within the company. The standoff persisted throughout 2020, negatively impacting the company’s operations.

In late June, the co-founders discussed resolving the dispute but did not reach an agreement.

On December 19 it became known that Wu and Zhang reached a settlement. Under its terms, the former would leave the company, receiving compensation of $600 million, the BTC.com pool with the BitDeer cloud platform, and mining farms outside China.

In December Bitmain approved the terms of Jihan Wu’s departure from the company.

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