The disagreement between Zhan Ketuan and Wu Jihan and the struggle for control can be traced back to the 2018 Bitcoin bear market and the failure of Bitmain's listing in Hong Kong. On March 26, 2019, Bitmain announced the end of the "dual CEO" model, with Zhan Ketuan as chairman and Wu Jihan "retiring to the second line". However, on October 28, 2019, Wu Jihan launched a "coup" and removed Zhan Ketuan from his position as executive director and legal representative of Bitmain Hong Kong through a shareholders' meeting, and appointed himself as the new legal representative and executive director. Since then, the struggle between the two sides has further escalated, including a series of events such as "robbing offices", "robbing official seals" and "robbing public accounts".
In the end, the battle for control that lasted for a year and a half ended with a settlement agreement between the two parties in December 2020. According to the agreement, Zhan Ketuan acquired nearly half of Wu Jihan's shares in Bitmain for US$600 million, while Wu Jihan resigned as CEO and chairman of Bitmain and took away BitDeer, an overseas mining farm and cloud computing platform split from Bitmain. The resolution of this dispute paved the way for the future development of Bitmain, although the infighting brought huge internal friction to the company.
The lack of capital and the core strength of the founding team is the main reason for this dispute. From the young Zhan Ketuan to Wu Jihan, they have never really mastered Bitmain! The growth of Bitmain is an accidental event in the crypto circle, and its disappearance is inevitable.
