The power struggles between the founders of Bitmain are now affecting customers as a co-founder of the company has stopped the shipment of mining hardware.
Co-founder Zhan Stops Shipment of Mining Hardware
The co-founder of the cryptocurrency mining hardware company, Bitmain, has stopped the shipment of some mining equipment, with the power struggles now affecting the customers of the company. The employees have also been affected as they have been forced to choose sides. This latest development now means that customers are caught in the crossfire.
According to a report from a local crypto media site BlockBeats, since the return of co-founder Micree Zhan earlier this month, the struggles really started. Zhan has stopped the shipment of Bitcoin mining hardware to customers from its Shenzhen subsidiary of the Beijing-based Bitmain. A mining customer in China and a staff member at Bitmain confirmed that there is a temporary halt on shipments from Bitmain’s Shenzhen warehouse.
The IPO of Bitmain in 2018 saw the company acquire a subsidiary called Shenzhen Century Cloud Core Technology. This subsidiary was tasked with manufacturing and packaging the Bitcoin miners at a warehouse before they proceed to delivery and pick-ups. Despite being removed from the company in October last year, Zhan still holds his position as a director at the Shenzhen subsidiary.
Although it is still unclear how the internal struggle in Bitmain will affect the customers in the long-term, most investors and customers have raised concerns, as they doubt the business outlook of the mining hardware giant.
Customers Are Jumping Ship
As a result of the internal struggle, some customers are already switching to Bitmain’s competitors to deliver mining hardware. Igor Runets, who heads one of the largest mining co-locations in Russia, stated that most of his clients are now contacting MicroBT, Bitmain’s major rival.
Runets added that he has some customers that have been waiting for the Antminer S19 devices, and they were not happy with the long wait time, which was partly caused by the internal rift within the company. He added that they hope the situation would be resolved by September so that it should not affect production time. If that fails to happen, then Bitmain would lose a lot of trust from its customers in the cryptocurrency space.
Matt D’Souza, the CEO and co-founder of Blockware Solutions, mentioned that he was aware of the shipment challenges weeks ago. The company, which is a U.S.-based miner distributor that also operates mining facilities, has had to pause orders from Bitmain at the moment. D’Souza revealed that in addition to self-mining, Blockware also offers hosting services to clients and they have a constant demand for mining equipment in the thousands.
The continuous rift between the founders of Bitmain has cost the company both money and trust within the cryptocurrency community. The return of Zhan, after being ousted by Wu Jihan last year, has fractured the company. Zhan is recognized as the legal representative of the company, which means that he has the power to make decisions on behalf of Bitmain. This is because the legal representative holds a company’s official seal, allowing him to sign a company’s decision into effect.
Customers are now hoping that the rift within the company will be resolved soon before they face further delays in the shipment of their mining hardware.