Just weeks after announcing the departure of the company’s co-founder, Micree Zhan, Bitmain’s chief executive officer Wu Jihan has taken full control of crypto mining equipment manufacturer. Jihan held a private client meeting last weekend for the first time since Micree Zhan left and addressed Bitmain’s executives regarding the company’s future.
Bitman’s executives including Jihan discussed all sorts of initiatives that the company is working on in order to attract more customers at the event. The sales strategies included seeking deposits at 20% for the customers buying Bitcoin(BTC)trade mining rigs in bulk instead of 50%, which is typically the price. Bitmain’s new models range between $1,000 to $2,000. Bitmain renewed its plan for an U.S. IPO listing after disappointing feedback from a far less crypto-accepting Hong Kong market last year.
Valued at almost $15 billion at a private funding in 2018, Bitmain has entered a fierce competition with other cryptocurrency mining competitors listed in major stock exchanges in the Unites States like Canaan and MicroBT. A presentation slide from the event that took place in Chengdu city, China, shows that the Bitmain endeavors new strategies to attract more crypto miners and regain more of a previously lost market share.
During the first half of this year, Canaan had 22% market share of Bitcoin mining machines that were sold, an increase from 15% in 2018. The statistics are confirmed by the market research company Frost and Sullivan in Canaan’s IPO listing prospectus. Although there is very little difference between the specs and prices of the machines produced by Bitmain and its rivals, the competition is intense and continuously growing each day.
Game of Thrones in the Crypto Mining Company
Bitmain’s power struggle had continued for weeks before both serving co-founders and co-CEOs were replaced by Zhan’s choice, Wang Haichao. He is still an employee at the company despite many lay-offs and budget cuts following Bitcoin’s price decline.
Jihan had announced Zhan’s resignation in October through a memo and wrote a detailed note to the employees, warning them from interacting professionally or taking orders from Zhan as he was no longer part of the company. He also stated that no worker should attend any meeting set up by Zhan. Zhan’s resignation brought a closure to the partnership of the two since they started their crypto mining gear business six years ago.
At the meeting on Saturday, Fan Xiaojun regained his positions as Bitmain’s sales chief after having been demoted by Zhan. Jihan’s new crypto financial startup, Matrixport, was advertised at the event after Jihan gave a speech about Zhan’s resignation. He also announced his choice for the company’s Head of Human Resources replacing Zhan’s appointed employee.
