Jihan Wu #14

Biography:

Jihan Wu founded Bitcoin mining giant Bitman along with Micree Zhan in 2013. Wu was an early adopter of Bitcoin, having raised money from family and friends to buy 900 Bitcoin in mid-2011. He was reportedly the first individual to translate the Bitcoin white paper into Mandarin. Earlier in 2019, Wu stepped down as Bitmain’s CEO to found Matrixport, a firm that provides financial services related to cryptocurrencies. He has since resumed the post of CEO after a shakeup with Zhan late last year.

Jihan Wu's 2019:

In June, Wu announced the launch of a new crypto services venture, Matrix — an over-the-counter trading desk and asset manager. This follows his departure from his CEO position at mining giant Bitmain, at the end of 2018. Bitmain’s plans to go public in Hong Kong have hit significant obstacles, with the firm pursuing new business lines such as AI in the face of inhibiting regulation by the Chinese government.

In October, Wu assumed command of Bitmain’s operations, ousting his co-founder Micree Ketuan Zhan and strictly prohibiting any employees from interacting with the ousted executive, even threatening immediate termination of employment for failure to comply. At the end of the year, Wu was officially reinstated as Bitmain CEO following the company’s tense management shift months earlier.

What Cointelegraph expects for 2020:

With the sudden executive shifts at Bitmain, the company’s struggle to go public, and the increasingly difficult regulatory landscape for cryptocurrency exchanges, Wu will have to navigate the Bitmain ship through difficult waters throughout the new year. We expect the company will improve existing services and build out new product lines, such as the reported AI development, in order to remain competitive in the crypto mining and infrastructure space.