What happened to Bitmain yesterday Series 10 (Finally compromised? Negotiation details exposed)

When the fight gets the most intense, it means they are about to compromise.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, Antminer’s official Weibo account issued a statement, and finally employees and customers breathed a sigh of relief.

It should be noted that this is the voice from Wu Jihan, and there is no response from Zhan Ketuan at present. So this is just a temporary compromise, and it is unknown whether it will be repeated in the future. What is puzzling is that this announcement was deleted shortly after it was issued.

On the morning of the 23rd, a photo of the negotiation details between Wu Jihan and Zhan Ketuan was exposed online, with more information. Wu Blockchain also confirmed the reliability of the negotiation content from Wu Jihan from multiple insiders.

1. Mr. Zhan currently controls Beijing Bit and Shenzhen Century Cloud Core (that is, materials).

2. Mr. Han controls the funds and the mining machine chips.

3. Currently, cooperation between both parties is required to produce a mining machine.

4. Mr. Han proposed to give Mr. Zhan the funds to pay suppliers every month and to pay the salaries of Bitmain (Beijing) employees. For every mining machine sold, Mr. Zhan will be given the money for a mining machine. This money can only be used for the daily operation of the company and must ensure that the original customer orders can be completed.

5. Mr. Zhan disagrees with the fourth option.

6. Mr. Zhan cannot get TSMC’s wafers, which means he cannot get chips, when he sells mining machines in October.

7. Chips are difficult to make, but materials are good. Mr. Han has the ability to get rid of Century Cloud Core and make his own mining machine.

Among them, the first and second points are all past information. According to the statements of both parties, Zhan controlled the Shenzhen factory through his relatives; Hong Kong Bit controlled by Wu cut off the supply of TSMC chips and payments to suppliers. It is expected that suppliers will put great pressure on the Shenzhen Zhan team.

The fourth point is brand new information, namely the inside story of the negotiations.

Wu Jihan took the initiative to pay for suppliers and employee wages, and the fees for selling mining machines belonged to Beijing Bitmain (the article colloquially said "to Mr. Zhan", which is not accurate enough), but it can only be used for the company's daily operations. The subtext is that it cannot be transferred to a company controlled by a person, and in addition, it must ensure that the orders of previous customers can be completed.

The fifth point states that Zhan disagrees with the fourth plan. Why does he disagree?

It may be that Wu Jihan emphasized that "the money given to Mr. Zhan for each mining machine sold can only be used for the daily operation of the company", which means that Wu Jihan still wants to control the power of sales and finance, which may be unacceptable to Zhan, who needs absolute power over sales and finance. Who is in charge of finance and whether Zhan can sell mining machines on his own is still undecided.

In addition, if further compromise is to be reached, the internal boundaries of power will be redrawn. Zhan has recalled and appointed a large number of old subordinates, including the appointment of new heads of supply chain and mining machine sales. There is a huge conflict between the heads of both parties.

The sixth and seventh points are threats. For the futures that Zhan is selling (indeed, almost no miners dare to buy), it is unlikely to be clear to the miners. Moreover, the manufacturing of mining machines is relatively simple, and it is not difficult to find a suitable foundry to produce them. In the past, some traditional mining machine manufacturers did produce for other brands.

In response to this, Zhan's previous statement said that it did not rule out placing orders directly with TSMC through Beijing Bit.

However, whether the amount of inventory sales (no more than 100 million) is enough to order wafers and pay the wages of Beijing Bit staff and Shenzhen factory employees who have turned to Zhan is not enough at present. Therefore, it is logical to make a temporary compromise.

In the business world, interests always come first. No matter how fiercely the two sides attack each other, it is possible that they will reconcile the next day. However, before the final judgment of the Cayman Islands comes out, the struggle for control will still be everywhere.

An early employee of Bitmain said that the two founders have different values, strategies, and styles. They each took over the areas they originally managed, one invested in the world of chips and AI, and the other fully entered the world of crypto finance. The intellectual property rights of mining machines are shared and normal market competition is carried out. They should both create greater value in their respective fields.