The Beijing-based cryptocurrency mining manufacturing company, Bitmain, has undergone corporate reshuffling as the co-founder and executive director Micree Ketuan Zhan has been removed. The information was released by an internal email sent to the staff and reported on the Chinese media.
Chinese news outlets report that another co-founder of the company, Jihan Wu, sent an email to the staff with the subject “Important Notice.” The email was sent on Tuesday around noon and the contents described that the co-founder and now chairman of the board, legal representative and executive director, Jihan Wu, has decided to effective immediately dismiss all pertaining roles of Ketuan Zhan, effective immediately.
The email also included a notice that no company staff member shall take any direction or order from Zhan or participate in any meeting organized by Zhan within the company. The notice was followed by a warning for the staff that any member violating the note would be considered for immediate termination of employment.
One member of Bitmain staff confirmed the authenticity of the email sent to the staff and obtained by the press. The member also compared the recent restructuring of the company to the series of events on December 17 last year when Bitmain laid off a large portion of employees, referring to lay off of Zhan as Version 2.0.
Another internal source close to the operations of Bitmain claims that the company is currently scheduling urgent meetings as the staffers were taken aback by the sudden information.
Although, it remains unclear why Bitmain decided to oust Zhan, the company spokesperson refused to comment or share any information regarding the events. Zhan was a major shareholder of the company, possessing 36% equity stake of Bitmain as reported by September 2018 Initial Public Offering (IPO) documents, and Wu owned 20%.
The email was followed by Chinese news outlets reporting a corporate re-structuring of Bitmain in the registration documented with the government establishments. Following the new update, Wu has effective immediately taken over the roles of executive director and legal representative of the company; both roles previously belonging to Micree Zhan.
Earlier this year, Bitmain was looking forward to launching an IPO in Hong Kong but its application failed. There were claims and rumors that the company was planning an IPO in the United States as its competitor Canaan Creative filed for a US IPO, planning to raise $400 million.
