Wu Jihan: The conflict with Zhan Ketuan broke out during the layoff storm in 2018. Zhan was initially against the layoffs.

According to the minutes of Bitmain’s staff meeting on Tuesday, Wu Jihan said at the meeting that he and Zhan Ketuan had been in conflict since 2015, and the conflict between the two sides reached a peak in December 2018. At that time, Bitmain decided to carry out a round of large-scale layoffs. Wu Jihan pushed for the layoffs, while Zhan Ketuan initially opposed it.

Wu Jihan said that he and the other three founding members of Bitmain tried to convince Zhan Ketuan to agree on layoffs long ago because they believed it was a necessary move to save the company. However, Zhan Ketuan remained unconvinced and tried to unite other middle and senior managers to oppose the layoff plan, only to find that most people supported the layoffs.

Wu Jihan said: "Everyone knows that in 2018, the company made a lot of unnecessary and hasty investments in R&D projects in various places, and even hired dozens or even hundreds of people without careful consideration. (So at the beginning) everyone supported layoffs."

Despite this, Zhan Ketuan held a second meeting on December 17, claiming that he should be the only CEO and threatening to cancel stock option incentives for those who did not support him. Wu Jihan said that in the end, Zhan Ketuan's second attempt failed, but the two eventually gave in and stepped down as CEO at the same time. (CoinDesk)