Jihan Wu on his own? Bitmain reportedly wants out of ‘failure’ Bitcoin Cash
The Bitcoin Cash ABC (BCHABC) boat is sinking, and Bitmain—under new management—reportedly no longer wants to be part of it.
Quoting sources familiar with the matter, Bitmain Twitter critic BTCKING555 tweeted on Friday that the Chinese cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer “will dial down the support” for the BCHABC project, claiming “Macree Zhang wants to be nowhere near this failure.”
The Beijing-based ASIC device manufacturer has been in a downward spiral as it loses its competitive edge. In the third quarter of 2018, Bitmain reportedly lost about $400 million, and its efforts to grow BCHABC have been considered not only controversial, but “likely loss making.”
In an earlier post, BTCKING555 pointed out how some of Bitmain’s investors like IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital have been steering clear of the company, describing the company as “a major disappointment” and claiming that “ex-CEO Jihan [Wu] misrepresented on numbers.”
Bitmain, under Jihan Wu’s management, has been a major player at the November 2018 Bitcoin Cash BCH network upgrade, launching efforts to force the network to follow the ABC group during the hash war. The company rented hash power and even deployed 90,000 of its own mining rigs in favor of ABC mining operations, a move that can be seen as an attempt to centralize and control ABC. There were also speculations that Wu was unloading BTC to fund the ABC mining operations, driving down the prices of the crypto.
Now, Wu could very well be on his way to retirement. He, along with Zhan, stepped down from their positions as co-CEOs of Bitmain early this year, and were succeeded by Haichao Wang, formerly the product engineering director at the crypto mining maker. Wu, currently facing several lawsuits including the one filed in Florida, was already demoted from a board director to “supervisor” in November.
The report, while still unconfirmed, makes sense for the crypto miner maker that has embarked on a quest to “build a long-term, sustainable business” following a catastrophic 2018. Since the start of 2019, Bitmain has been shutting down many of its overseas operations—from Israel to Texas and Amsterdam—as well as some of its side projects like Wormhole as the company turns its focus to “things that are core to our mission.”
