Bitmain’s Jihan Wu returns as CEO with big offers and promises

After plenty of controversy and drama, Bitmain is trying to sweep everything under the rug and bring things back to a time when things were simpler. Founder Jihan Wu has reasserted himself as CEO of the crypto mining rig company and is trying to make customers forget about any drama that might have happened with a recently departed leader.

Wu attended a recent private client meeting on December 7 in Chengdu City, China, now fully back in control of the company as CEO, Bloomberg reports. In his first public appearance since ousting cofounder Micree Zhan, Wu and other Bitmain executives made no direct mention of the controversial break-up, but advertised “The Bitmain you are familiar with is back,” in pamphlets.

Perhaps desperate to regain some ground in the mining rig space, Bitmain was also offering deals the’ve never come close to before. At the event, Bitmain was offering to sell rigs in bulk and accept a 20% deposit for them. The norm for such an offer, attendees noted, is typically a 50% deposit, or full payment.

After a very difficult 2019, in which Bitmain saw legal issues and had to close several offices, news broke that Wu had gained enough support to fire Zhan on October 29.

Before any aspiring mining companies go and bet on Wu though, take note. Zhan has declared his firing illegal, noting he wasn’t personally notified, and that Wu waited until he was on a business trip so he could get the ball rolling and complete the coup without opposition.

As Zhan held the position of Legal Representative for Bitmain, a role that carries significant weight in China, it’s expected he still has a significant enough status to fight Wu and potentially regain some control of the company.

That pretty well explains why Wu is trying to move on to the next chapter of Bitmain’s story as quickly as possible. If he can prove, perhaps against the odds, that he can change the company’s fate, it may be the only way to sway Bitmain’s decision makers into keeping him in power, rather than his rival Zhan.