Editor's Note: This article comes fromDeepChain (ID: deepchain-eva), Author: Bu Er Do, reprinted by Odaily with authorization.
Editor's Note: This article comes from
DeepChain (ID: deepchain-eva)
, Author: Bu Er Do, reprinted by Odaily with authorization.
"France, your emperor has returned."
On March 1, 1815, sweeping away the haze of defeat, Napoleon led 700 soldiers back to France.
Facing the French Fifth Army that suppressed him, Napoleon shouted loudly: "Shoot at me, soldiers, shoot at your emperor."
Inspired by Napoleon, the Fifth Army turned its blade and began to support their new king."On October 27, 2019, Wu Jihan returned to Bitmain.
Raid, change, dismissal, expulsion. Wu Jihan acted vigorously and took control of the situation in a very short time.
In the eyes of many people, Wu Jihan is the soul of Bitmain, and some people even specially printed "I LOVE JIHAN
In the forty-six days after the reunification, Wu Jihan resigned from the old family, introduced a new policy, and settled down in the outside world.
However, in the face of Ketuan Zhan who may counterattack at any time, the expectations of shareholders, the provocation of opponents, and changes in the industry, Bitmain has internal and external troubles.
Can the familiar Bitmain really "come back"?
secondary title
""Everyone seize the opportunity""
Jeans, a black top, and thin-wire glasses, Wu Jihan walked lightly and looked calm.
"Right now, the circle is still in the correction cycle of the bull market." On the stage, Wu Jihan put his right hand in his pocket and held the microphone in his left hand. After moistening his lips, he talked eloquently.
In the audience, nearly 500 invited guests applauded thunderously, holding different models of mobile phones high and taking pictures continuously.
This is the 2019 Customer Appreciation Meeting held by Bitmain in Chengdu on December 7. Wu Jihan made his first appearance after his "return".
"Compared with before, Wu Jihan looks a little older, but he feels more mature." Lao Tan (pseudonym), the person in charge of a mine in Chengdu, told DeepChain, "The last time I saw him was in 2017."
In June of that year, also in Chengdu, the Second China Bitcoin Miners Conference was held. At this time, Bitcoin is on the rise, and compared with two months ago, it has quadrupled. However, this was just the beginning, and since then, Bitcoin has soared all the way to its all-time high.
The market is hot, and the miners are also enthusiastic. Bitmain waved a big hand and provided two nights of accommodation for hundreds of miners attending the conference.
"In the past, you could come just by signing up, but this year's conference can only be invited by Bitmain, and there are certain conditions."
Lao Tan told DeepChain that all the important customers of Bitmain were invited to this meeting. Taking Lao Tan as an example, the business transaction funds between him and Bitmain are in the scale of hundreds of millions.
As early as half a month before the start of the conference, Lao Tan received an invitation call from the Bitmain official.
"After receiving the call, I was very happy. I think there should be a new trend in this meeting." Lao Tan said.
For a miner, Wu Jihan holds a lot of weight in their hearts.
Therefore, as soon as Wu Jihan appeared on the stage, the whole venue set off a climax, "Some people even cheered."
But unfortunately, because of the joy and the lively atmosphere of the scene, Lao Tan didn't pay attention to what Wu Jihan said in the first sentence after he took the stage.
But there is one thing that Lao Tan remembers very clearly, that is, almost no one left during the conference that lasted about 4 hours.
"Because of the theme of this conference, all the miners are excited: the familiar Bitmain is back."
Installment payment, joint mining, option hedging. At the meeting, Wu Jihan brought out three axes, which cheered up the miners.
According to reports, as long as a customer purchases more than 100 mining machines at one time, they can enjoy a minimum 50% down payment. If they purchase more than 5,000 mining machines, they only need to pay 20% of the down payment, and the balance only needs to be paid before delivery. 7 days to pay in full.
In addition, Bitmain will also conduct cooperative mining with miners. S17 series mining machines will be provided by Bitmain for 1 year. The income during the cooperation period is settled on a monthly basis, and the net income is distributed according to 25% of the partner and 75% of Bitmain.
In the end, Bitmain proposed that all orders exceeding 10 million yuan can get an option of 1% of the total amount. This is used to hedge the losses caused by future bitcoin price drops. Interestingly, Bitmain stated that the option product will be purchased from Matrixport.
"Actually, Bitmain and Matrixport are also deeply immersed in the financial field." Wu said the blockchain told DeepChain, "Mining pools, OTC transactions, loans, options, Bitmain's ecology has everything."
Lao Tan recalled to DeepChain that after the customer appreciation meeting, all the participants had a meal together. At that time, he held a wine glass and toasted Wu Jihan.
"Will Bitmain hold both financial mining machines in the future?" Old Tan asked.
Wu Jihan didn't answer Lao Tan directly, but said indifferently: "There is a lot to do in the future market, everyone should seize the opportunity."
secondary title
"Left-handed mining machine, right-handed finance"
In July this year, Matrixport, a company founded by Jihan Wu, was officially launched. This is a one-stop platform integrating OTC trading, lending and custody of digital assets.
Matrixport was born in January this year, coinciding with Bitmain's cash crisis. Now that Bitmain has bundled the mining machine business with the financial business, this approach seems to many people to be a wise move.
"In this way, on the one hand, it can stimulate the sales of Bitmain's mining machines, and on the other hand, it can also bring Matrixport great popularity and more potential customers." A blockchain financial person believes that basically every The major buyers of Bitmain's mining machines are Matrixport customers.
The bitcoin market is tepid, and the sales of mining machines are unpredictable. Since the source cannot be opened, it is necessary to make good use of the existing funds. After all, compared to R&D, production and doing business, it may be more efficient to make money with money.
Currently, Matrixport has expanded to Europe with a new office in Zurich, Switzerland.
"In the future, Matrixport may be a sharp arrow for Bitmain Group to conquer the market." The above-mentioned person said.
Bitmain kills two birds with one stone.
Plus installment payments and merged mining. Wu Jihan sacrificed three axes.
But at the same time, some people have questioned the starting point of Bitmain's three axes. "Bitmain's move is nothing more than compromising and lowering its figure in exchange for market share." A person close to Bitmain told DeepChain, "If If there is another reason, it is to destock.”
"It makes sense to exchange market share, but it doesn't make sense to destock." Wu said the blockchain told DeepChain.
Since the beginning of this year, the sudden emergence of Whatsminer has seized Bitmain’s market share. Although the performance of the S17 mining machine is better than that of Whatsminer’s M20 and M21, the S17 mining machine is limited by TSMC’s 7NM chip production capacity. Unable to meet market demand.
"But Bitmain's S17 series has not yet reached the point of destocking. So many S9s left in the market in the past are still waiting to be replaced."
However, Lao Tan expressed his objection to Wu's statement about the blockchain: "For now, S9 is still the most popular product of Bitmain. From the official website, both the S9 mining machine and the T17 mining machine are still in stock. .To replace the S9 with the S17, at least the S9 must be sold out first."
Lao Tan also said that he heard that Bitmain will produce 600,000 new mining machines in the second half of the year, and he is very interested in it, but he will not buy it rashly.
On November 16 this year, some media broke the news that Bitmain is about to release the next-generation mining machine S19, and said that S19 will adopt TSMC’s 7NM technology.
"I heard that S19 is more cost-effective than S17. For miners, the word cost-effective has a familiar feeling."
However, when Ketuan Zhan was in charge of Bitmain, the price deviated from the market a bit, which made Bitmain mining machines "unable to sell even if they wanted to sell them."
"The miners still recognize the Ant series mining machines." Lao Tan told DeepChain, "I have more than 20,000 mining machines, and more than 60% are Ant mining machines."
In this regard, Wu said that the blockchain agrees, and he believes that when Bitmain changes from technology priority to sales priority, the familiar Bitmain will come back.
secondary title
"Resist the outside world and secure the inside"
Wu Jihan is back, "Chairman and CEO of Bitmain", this identity is dazzling and eye-catching, and there is a hint of long-lost in addition to being amazed.
For a company, there is usually only one absolute leader. When someone comes, someone has to leave. Without a doubt, Ketuan Zhan was the one who left.
According to various media reports, Ketuan Zhan’s exit was due to “losing popular support” in Bitmain.
According to Tencent News, on October 20 this year, Ketuan Zhan implemented the second annual organizational structure adjustment within Bitmain, which directly caused a large number of veteran employees who had followed Bitmain for many years to resign, causing great internal public outrage. Some employees even said that "Old Zhan's head was squeezed by the door" and "Old Zhan went crazy".
Therefore, with the appeal of employees and the support of shareholders, Wu Jihan launched a surprise attack on Ketuan Zhan and dismissed him on October 29.
It is reported that Wu Jihan was able to succeed in the raid because he obtained the CFO Liu Luyao who joined from CICC last year and took care of Bitmain’s IPO-related matters, the former Bitmain HRBP Suo Chao, and Ge Yue, who is both a shareholder and a new supervisor. Supported by Sheng et al.
Since then, Bitmain has not relaxed its "liquidation" of Zhan Ketuan, and Zhan Ketuan has not given up the counterattack.
"Actually, the relationship between Wu Jihan and Zhan Ketuan is a bit like Jobs and Sculley." A person close to Bitmain told DeepChain.
In the past, Jobs was forced to leave Apple after losing a battle with his partner Sculley. Founded the NeXT company by himself.
Since then, Apple's situation has gone from bad to worse, and finally Apple's board of directors invited Jobs back. After Jobs returned, he immediately replaced the leaders of key positions in Apple with his own people. Ultimately, Jobs finally achieved control of Apple.
On October 29, Yang Haipo, the founder of mining pool operator ViaBTC, also expressed the hope that Wu Jihan, like Jobs, would lead the company to glory again.
As expected, on the day Yang Haipo sent his blessings to Jihan Wu, Jihan Wu dismissed the HR director originally appointed by Ketuan Zhan.
The primary goal of fighting is to recognize who is the enemy and who is the friend. Use thunderous means to the enemy, and be gentle and warm to the friend.
On the one hand, Bitmain has successively launched attacks on Ketuan Zhan and his team. On the other hand, it has announced that it will carry out annual salary adjustments covering no less than 80% of its employees starting from November 4th.
One in and one out, all under control.
It’s not over yet, although Wu Jihan has basically controlled Bitmain, but his liquidation of Ketuan Zhan has not stopped.
"Ketuan Zhan withdrew from the main member of Bitmain, Ketuan Zhan resigned as the legal person of Suofeng Technology, and Ketuan Zhan was dismissed from Bitmain's subsidiary Tianjin Diwei Digital TV."
In just one month, Ketuan Zhan seemed to be completely out of the game.
Compared with Wu Jihan's "aggressive". Ketuan Zhan's counterattack seemed somewhat "pale and feeble".
On November 8, it was reported that Ketuan Zhan pleaded with Jihan Wu, but was ignored; on December 9, another media reported that Ketuan Zhan requested to remove all directors of the company and elect him as the sole director at the Bitmain shareholders meeting. But this proposal was rejected by many shareholders.
A person close to Bitmain told DeepChain: "It is only theoretically possible for Zhan Ketuan to regain Bitmain."
"For now, Ketuan Zhan may continue to fight Wu Jihan through legal weapons in the future, but we don't know if he can succeed." Wu said that although Wu Jihan won the victory, he also faced challenges. to a great challenge.
secondary title
"Can Bitmain really "come back"?"
Relying on the support of shareholders and ingenious industrial and commercial changes, Wu Jihan was able to "win" temporarily, but as the major shareholder, Ketuan Zhan was always a sword hanging over Wu Jihan's head.
First of all, the stake is a challenge.
To this day, Ketuan Zhan is still the largest shareholder of Bitmain, holding 36% of the shares of Bitmain, while Wu Jihan only holds 20.25% of the shares. Just like the mining machine rivers and lakes "computing power is justice", in the legal entity of the company Among them, equity represents the right to speak.
"Mike Tuan Zhan has hired lawyers from many places and will not let it go." Wu said the blockchain told DeepChain.
Of course, Jihan Wu's pressure is not limited to Ketuan Zhan.
In Bitmain’s financing in 2017, investors and management signed a VAM agreement to go public within 5 years. For Bitmain, going public has always been its goal of catching up.
On November 21st, the competitor Canaan Yunzhi took the lead in listing and became the first blockchain stock in the world. From the outside world, Jihan Wu and Bitmain at this time will feel pressure to some extent.
“It is a thing of the past that a single mining machine manufacturer monopolizes 80% of the market share.” In an online event about the listing of Canaan Zhizhi, former Bitmain employee and Coinin mining pool COO Zhu Wei said.
In the previous September, the computing power of Poolin Mining Pool surpassed BTC.com, a subsidiary of Bitmain, and jumped to the first place.
In an interview with the media, Zhu Wei said that it has become a fact that the sales volume of Shenma mining machines has surpassed that of ant mining machines this year.
Judging from market feedback, the official website of Whatsminer shows that since January, of the 9 mining machines launched by Whatsminer, 5 of them have been sold out, and the other 4 models are not in stock. Cumulative sales exceeded 2 billion yuan.
In fact, at the staff meeting on October 31, Wu Jihan also admitted that the market share of Bitmain’s mining machine business is declining.
"The only thing Wu Jihan can do now is to make achievements." A source told DeepChain, "At least we must regain the lost market share from Shenma mining machines."
Lao Tan also believes that there is only one real opponent of Bitmain, and that is Shenma mining machine.
In 2016, due to the issue of share distribution, Yang Zuoxing left Bitmain, founded Shenma Mining Machine, and launched the M series mining machine to become a competitor of Bitmain.
"I mine myself. In my mine, there are all kinds of mining machines. Except for more than 60% of Ant mining machines, the second most are Shenma mining machines, about 30%."
"Like other mining machines such as Avalon and Yibit, the total is only 2%."
Previously, on November 8, Yang Zuoxing, the founder of Whatsminer, was taken away by the police for investigation, and the industry pointed the reason to Bitmain.
It is precisely because of this that the launch of the M30 mining machine originally planned by Whatsminer was forced to be postponed.
According to Bitmain insiders, since Yang Zuoxing launched the Whatsminer mining machine and developed rapidly, Zhan Ketuan, who was still the actual controller of Bitmain at the time, regarded it as a "serious confidant" and not only asked the major packaging and testing factories not to give Shenma mining machines. The packaging and testing has also continued to initiate lawsuits against Whatsminer.
