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- Bitmain filed a lawsuit, demanding a damage claim of 99M yuan or $15M against MicroBT Whatsminer with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.
- Yang Zuoxing, the former Bitmain employee, left the firm and months later founded MicroBT.
- The court has acknowledged the filing and accepted the case; however, no date for the first hearing has been released yet.
Two of the world’s largest bitcoin mining hardware makers are at war once again. Reported Wednesday, Chinese Bitmain filed a lawsuit worth $15 million against MicroBT Whatsminer with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. The suit accuses the founder and CEO of MicroBT, Yang Zuoxing, of stealing technology.
Yang Zuoxing’s Relation to Bitmain
An article published by China’s local news publication IP Economy mentions Yang Zuoxing was a chief chip designer at Bitmain and part of the research for its new-generation chip in 2015. Months later, Yang quit Bitmain without handing over documents or following proper resignation procedures. In July 2016, Yang founded MicoBT, which completed the chip design within five months, which as per Bitmain, was before he officially left Bitmain.
Age-Old Rivalry: cut-throat competition
This feud between Bitmain and MicroBT isn’t recent, and the roots travel way back. Bitmain in 2017, sued Yang and MicroBT for infringing a patent Bitmain was granted for bitcoin mining equipment, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). However, the IP court dismissed the case in 2018. Then in 2019 December, Yang was arrested on the grounds of embezzlement, which Bitmain reported. August 2020 was released on parole as a MicroBT supplier filed an IPO to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Moreover, the Shenzhen-based bitcoin miner maker’s growth since 2019 gradually took over the bitcoin mining hardware market, putting an end to the Bitmain dominating era and fueling the long-time Rivalry.
Per the supplier’s IPO filing, MicroBT’s revenues grew from $62 million in 2017 to $230 million in 2018 and $626 million in 2019.
The 2021 Suit: a $15 million damage claim
But Bitmain hasn’t given up. The new civil case demanding MicroBT a damage claim of 99 million yuan, i.e. $15 million, came months after the Shenzhen prosecutor released Yang from the criminal charge. Acknowledging the complaint, Bitmain was notified that the Beijing IP Court would proceed accordingly. However, no date for the first hearing has been released yet.
Yang’s not-so-satisfactory experience at Bitmain
However, denying the allegations, Yang recounts a different history, which dates back to 2014, when he joined ASICMiner, a bitcoin mining hardware maker founded by Jiang Xinyu in 2012, otherwise known as Friedcat. Early 2015 saw a mysterious disappearance of Friedcat, following which Yang joined Bitmain, selected after he presented his “full-custom chip design technology” to Micree Zhan, Bitmain’s co-founder and chairman.
But Yang was only on a part-time gig to design chips for Bitmain’s S7 in Shanghai since he “didn’t feel respected” nor much liked the “working environment”. Bitmain released S7 in 2015 August. After that, while S9 was in talks, Yang had several rounds of equity negotiations, which did not bode well. Even as Bitmain’s other co-founder, Jihan Wu, was willing to offer 2%, Zhan wasn’t comfortable beyond 0.5% of equity.
Yang followed the Proper Procedure
Disappointed, Yang terminated his contract with Bitmain in June 2016 and later launched MicroBT. Meanwhile, with the success of AntMiner S7 and S9, Bitmain sold millions of units in 2017 and achieved around $1 billion net profit in a year.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
