Bitmain legal representative changed again: Liu Luyao assumed the position of Jihan Wu

By Dorothy 01/6/20 9:17 AM

Bitmain Technologies, the famous Bitcoin ASIC producer, saw its CEO and founder Jihan Wu, giving up the role of manager and legal representative for the company when CFO Liu Luyao took his place.

This is the second change of Bitmain legal representative in the past two months. The last time was October 28, 2019, when the legal representative changed from another co-founder, Micree Zhan to Wu Jihan. Wu very publicly ousted his co-founder Micree Zhan from the company that took over the legal representative and removed Micree Zhan from all executive positions.

In China, the role of the Legal Representative is very important because it serves as the legal personification of the company. The overthrow had been planned for some time when a violent conflict had occurred for a while between Wu and Zhan.

Intense conflict between Wu and Zhan

That conflict entered a new phase last month when Zhan filed a lawsuit against Bitmain, in which he asked a court in the Cayman Islands to invalidate a shareholder decision leading to his overthrow. He has previously threatened legal action against Bitmain and is currently seeking to use the courts to try and regain control of the bitcoin mining giant.

Zhan has pursued lawsuits against his illegal claim from the company, said that this whole event seems like a betrayal since the company originally planned to be like Wu’s and Zhan’s child. Shortly, just two months after Zhan stormed to power; he has now given up the role.

Jihan Wu had a near-replacement from his company when he did not pay all his bets on BCH-ABC (Bitcoin Cash – ABC) technology, causing the company to suffer significant losses. Their technological implementation is chipped at a competitive advantage in the market.

Jihan Wu, the cofounder and chairman of Bitmain Technologies. Image via thecoinrepublic

It is said to have cost them $ 400 million in the third quarter of 2018, leading to Bitmain and Micree Zhan wanting to stay away from the trainwreck that Wu brought. Bitmain’s investors, too, deliberately steered away from the company after disappointment with BCH-ABC and claimed that Jihan Wu presented the wrong number and provided them with false information.

The new manager, legal representative and CFO Liu Luyao, is not a rookie in this area. In the past, he served as the Vice President for the Investment Banking Department at China International Capital Corp Ltd. He also holds an undergraduate degree from Peking University and a diploma from Tsinghua University.

Bitmain’s market share has decreased in recent months, even as China’s bitcoin mining ecosystem is still a dominant force. At the same time, Bitmain is pursuing business in South America, especially in Brazil.