The power struggles between the cofounders of cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain appear to have heightened to a fever pitch. Jihan Wu removed co-founder Micree Zhan from the company last year; since then, Zhan has been working to fulfill a vow that he made to return to the company using legal means.
What has already been a highly public spat between the two co-founders took a rather aggressive turn on June 3rd, when Zhan reportedly attempted a physical takeover of Bitmain’s office in Beijing. According to CoinDesk, the office has been mostly empty of employees for the last several months due to the COVID-19 quarantine.
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Indeed, according to reports by Chinese publication BlockBeats, Zhan led a team of ‘Bao Ans’, or private guards, into the office on Wednesday, demanding that he be reinstated as an operating member of the company.
The report also included a video of guards marching next to what appears to be the Bitmain office; one figure can be seen blockading the door to the office from the outside with furniture.
OH MAN the #BitMainDrama this video is verified by @BlockBeatsChina
Micree today led a team of private guards crashed Bitmain Beijing office … they broke in by brute force and tried to take back the control (after Jihan’s initial coup and series of outrageous behavior) pic.twitter.com/wkpKJ8Nr8H
— Dovey 以德服人 Wan (@DoveyWan) June 4, 2020
Finance Magnates reached out to Bitmain to confirm the details of this story, but did not receive a response before press time. This article will be updated as reponses are received.