Bitmain’s ousted co-founder Micree Zhan says he will take legal action to return to the firm

Micree Zhan, co-founder of cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain, was abruptly ousted from the company last week. Zhan now says that he is going to take legal action to return to the firm.

In an open letter posted on his WeChat account on Thursday, Zhan said that he was removed from the company without his consent while he was on a “business trip.”

“I have never thought that as a person focusing on technology and product, I have to start thinking from legal perspectives. It was embarrassing that as a Bitmain co-founder, the biggest shareholder, and a registered legal representative, I got ousted without any knowledge in this coup while on a business trip,” Zhan said, adding:

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“I didn’t realize until then that those scenes in TV shows, where you get stabbed on your back by those partners you trusted and ‘brothers’ you fought together with, can really happen in real life.”

Zhan assured Bitmain staff and shareholders that he will “return to the company as soon as possible through legal methods” to achieve business goals.

“We want to achieve the goal of 90% market share of bitcoin miner manufacturing market! Our AI [artificial intelligence] business can achieve a qualitative breakthrough of about 100 million yuan [~$14.25 million] in revenue in 2019, and can expect 1 billion yuan [~$143 million] in 2020," Zhan added. 

Last week, Jihan Wu, another co-founder of Bitmain, sent an email to Bitmain staff, saying that Zhan is out and that he has taken over Zhan’s responsibilities. “Any Bitmain staff shall no longer take any direction from Zhan, or participate in any meeting organized by Zhan. Bitmain may, based on the situation, consider terminating employment contracts of those who violate this note,” Wu said at the time.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.