Ousted Bitmain Co-Founder Wages Battle for Control in Court
- Micree Zhan’s company filed summons to a Cayman Islands court
- Two co-founders are battling for control of top crypto-miner
Bitmain Technologies Inc. application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) units
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergOusted Bitmain Technologies Ltd. co-founder Micree Zhan Ketuan has initiated a legal case to try to regain his position, escalating a battle for control of the world’s biggest miner of cryptocurrency.
Great Simplicity Investment Corporation, owned by the engineering whiz-turned-entrepreneur, filed a summons in December in which he asked a Cayman Islands court to reverse a shareholder decision that cost him voting control of the crypto-miner. In the summons -- a notice served to defendant Bitmain -- Zhan asked the court to invalidate a vote at a November extraordinary general meeting that curtailed his rights. Shareholders voted then to convert Bitmain’s Class B shares to one vote per share, versus 10 votes previously -- effectively slashing Zhan’s influence, according to the summons obtained by Bloomberg.