The largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining rigs, Bitmain Technology is set to appoint a new CEO. The move is in line with the company’s strategy to replace Wu Jihan and Zhan Ketuan, the co-founders of Bitmain Technology, according to people concerned with the matter.
Wang Haichao would be replacing the co-founder. He is currently posted as the director of product engineering at the Beijing-based company. Haichao has already taken up the duties from co-CEO Wu and Zhan. The information about the same is not yet revealed officially by the company. However, people familiar with matter shared the private information and asked not to be identified.
As of now, the company has not revealed as for when Wang would take up the position from the co-CEO officially. Wu and Zhan, however, will remain as the co-chairs of the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has not commented on the change in the leadership. The news of the expected change was first reported by local media somewhere two weeks back. Wang has also not commented on the news so far.
Following the shift in the leadership, Wu and Zhan will no longer take part in the day-to-day affairs of the company. However, they will play a crucial part in making the big decision on behalf of the company, as reported by people close to the matter. The duo during the course of their office has disagreed on certain issues as co-CEOs.
Wang has previously worked at a semiconductor design company Availink, based out in Beijing, for the tenure of seven years (2010-2017). At Availink, Wang roles require him to work as a software programmer as well as the product manager, as reported by Chinese media. Wang is a graduate of Beijing’s Tsinghua University which is considered as the MIT of China.
Bitmain accounts for 75% of the specialized computers circulated across the world that is used to earn new units of digital money. Bitmain at time present is facing difficult time amid slugging cryptocurrency market. In 2018, the world’s largest form of digital money lost around 70% of its value. In total, around $500 billion has been wiped away the market value of more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies.
Bitmain, in September 2018, filed an IPO application in Hong Kong. The move was followed by its Chinese rivals Ebang International and Canaan Creative. The market regulators and stock exchange seem to be in reluctance in approving the IPO for any cryptocurrency related venture due to lack of regulation.
In December 2018, Bitmain informed its plans of lay-off due to crunch in the industry. The company has not revealed as how many jobs its plans to cut. At the end of June 2018, the company had 2,594 full-time employees which included 840 engineers, as per the company’s IPO filing. As of now, the company has a staff of more than 3,000 and is believed to be planning to cut off around one-third of them.
