Bitmain controversy resurfaces: negative news surrounding the co-founder, internal disputes and regulatory pressure spark industry attention.

Recently, numerous unverified rumors have sparked heated discussions in the Crypto Assets community, focusing on Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu. Posts circulating on social platform X suggest that Jihan Wu may face fines of up to several billion dollars, the risk of detention, and even a complete fallout with another co-founder, Micree Zhan. The statements surrounding this issue are contradictory, and insiders in the Crypto Assets circle are trying to verify what is being viewed as a significant crisis in the industry.

As a leading enterprise in global Bitcoin mining hardware, Bitmain's mining machines support over 70% of Bitcoin's hashing power, while also providing chips for AI data centers running Nvidia H100. Today, this core infrastructure company stands at the intersection of geopolitics, legal scrutiny, and internal corporate governance conflicts.

On December 21, senior encryption figure Chandler Guo posted an ambiguous message on social media, mentioning that an industry insider had encountered “deep sea fishing” (referring to long-term secret detention), involving amounts as high as several billion dollars. Although no names were mentioned, the market quickly pointed the finger at Jian Ketuan, with rumors circulating about fines ranging from 1 billion to 10 billion dollars, and even speculation that he has left the country for Indonesia, but there has been no official confirmation.

Meanwhile, community opinion leaders have revealed that the Xinjiang mining farm has recently encountered disruptions, and the internal conflicts among the founders of Bitmain are intensifying. The former dual CEO structure has completely collapsed in 2025, and the conflicts between Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan over company control, strategic direction, and resource allocation continue to escalate. This event is seen as a microcosm of Chinese Crypto Assets mining companies in a complex political and business environment.

At an external level, Bitmain is also facing scrutiny from the United States regarding hardware security and national security risks. Its global layout of mining and AI infrastructure makes it more susceptible to geopolitical shocks. Industry insiders believe that if the situation worsens further, it could impact the supply chain of Bitcoin mining hardware, the distribution of computing power, and the overall stability of the Crypto Assets market. Currently, rumors related to Bitmain are still fermenting, and the market is closely monitoring the developments.