Wu Jihan and His Mining Machine Empire: How Eight Years Took Him from Zero to Billions

What can change in 8 years? For most people, 8 years might just be a few steps in their career journey. But for Wu Jihan, these 8 years saw him evolve from an unknown investment analyst to a key player in the cryptocurrency industry, with assets reaching hundreds of millions. This journey is considered a miracle in the blockchain world.

Academic Excellence and Investment Enlightenment

Born in Chongqing in 1986, Wu Jihan showed extraordinary academic talent from a young age. He attended Nankai Middle School in Chongqing and then entered Peking University’s School of Economics, graduating in 2009 with dual degrees—economics and psychology. During college, Wu extensively studied monetary theory and idolized Warren Buffett, laying the foundation for his future investment instincts.

After graduating from Peking University, Wu entered the venture capital industry as an investment analyst and manager. His professional background and meticulous analysis cultivated a habit of in-depth research early on. This habit changed his life in 2011—when he first encountered Bitcoin, he didn’t act impulsively like most, but with the rigor of a venture capitalist, invested 100,000 yuan to buy 900 BTC in one go. This decision proved to be a visionary move.

Mining Chip: The Key to Power and Wealth

By 2013, Bitcoin’s price had soared to $750, and Wu’s earlier investments had multiplied several times. With this capital, Wu was inspired to start a new venture. That year, he co-founded Bitmain with Jiang Zhiwei, an integrated circuit designer from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on custom chip design.

Before founding Bitmain, Wu had invested in “Cao Mao,” a Bitcoin mining chip startup. It was a high-stakes gamble—if chip development failed, all his capital would be lost. Fortunately, the gamble paid off, earning him his first million-yuan return. This experience taught Wu a crucial lesson: whoever controls the manufacturing of mining chips controls the distribution of computing power in the Bitcoin world.

In November 2013, Bitmain launched its first Antminer S1. As Bitcoin’s boom continued, Wu and Jiang iterated their products—upgrading from S2 to S7—successfully making Bitmain the world’s largest manufacturer of mining hardware. At its peak, Bitmain not only produced flagship products like Antminers but also controlled mining pools such as AntPool and BTC.com, and established close ties with third-party pools like BTC.top and ViaBTC.

By 2017, Bitmain’s annual revenue reached about $2.5 billion (roughly 15.8 billion RMB). That same year, Wu was named one of the ten most influential figures in blockchain by Coindesk.

The 8MB Ambition: From Scaling Ideas to Power Struggles

In May 2017, Bitcoin’s price broke $2,000, and on-chain transactions surged, causing network congestion and skyrocketing fees, which hindered the industry’s development. Wu believed that network scaling was essential.

However, the Bitcoin Core team and other developers disagreed. They advocated maintaining the 1MB block size limit and building second-layer solutions outside the chain to increase capacity. This disagreement led to an irreconcilable split.

Wu refused to compromise. On August 1, 2017, ViaBTC, backed by Bitmain, announced a hard fork, increasing the block size limit from 1MB to 8MB, directly improving network capacity. Simultaneously, AntPool quickly enabled hash power switching between BTC and BCH (Bitcoin Cash), allowing seamless mining transitions. Bitcoin Cash was born from this split.

This decision made Wu a highly controversial figure in the Bitcoin community. Many members opposed the split, viewing it as a disruptive act. Wu was labeled a “traitor” and “terrorist,” and Coindesk called him an “antagonist.” Yet, within the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem, Wu became a dominant ruler, able to set rules and issue commands freely.

The Cost of Power: The Empire’s Split

The good times didn’t last. From late 2018, as Bitcoin’s price plummeted and competitors entered the scene, Bitmain’s core business suffered heavy losses. More critically, the company’s two founders’ strategic visions diverged.

Wu, with a background in investment, favored expanding into finance and blockchain services; Jiang, with a technical background, aimed to develop AI chips. By 2019, this strategic rift turned into an open power struggle. Wu’s internal memo revealed a funding shortfall of $300 million. A fierce internal conflict ensued, leading to layoffs and organizational chaos.

After a series of dismissals, legal battles, and negotiations, Wu and Jiang reached a settlement. Wu publicly stated, “As a co-founder of Bitmain, I enjoyed 2,815 days of this journey,” expressing a sense of closure and letting go.

Rebirth: Bitdeer and a New Beginning

In January 2021, Wu resigned as CEO and Chairman of Bitmain. During the split, he took assets like the mining pool Bitdeer and overseas mining farms, establishing Bitdeer Group and serving as its chairman. Meanwhile, Jiang acquired Wu’s and other founders’ shares for $600 million and continued to lead Bitmain.

After leaving Bitmain, Wu positioned Bitdeer as a builder of blockchain infrastructure. After several years, Bitdeer went public on NASDAQ on April 14, 2023, with a valuation of about $870 million. In contrast, Bitcoin Cash, once under Wu’s control, gradually declined to a second- or third-tier coin, showing little growth even during the 2021 bull market—an intriguing contrast.

The Controversial Figure’s Dual Reflection

Looking back at Wu Jihan’s trajectory, his true nature depends on perspective. Compared to seasoned figures like Li Xiaolai or the more polished Sun Yuchen, Wu, who is less skilled at self-promotion, resembles a young genius from online literature—gifted, ambitious, yet often displaying stubbornness and authoritarian traits.

From founding the Bitcointalk forum and translating Satoshi’s white paper to building Bitmain, promoting blockchain technology, and initiating BCH forks that caused industry splits, Wu’s every step has profoundly influenced crypto history. He contributed efficient mining hardware, accelerating Bitcoin’s mining process, and his relentless promotion helped popularize blockchain.

But his stubbornness also brought controversy. During the BCH fork, he was criticized for dispersing Bitcoin’s hash power, seen as betraying Satoshi’s vision. These evaluations have their merits, and the real Wu Jihan likely exists somewhere between these conflicting views—both a blockchain evangelist and a power player.

From starting with nothing to amassing a billion-dollar fortune, from an unknown analyst to an industry leader, Wu Jihan achieved in 8 years what many could not imagine. The risks, opportunities, choices, and costs in this journey form one of the most complex and thought-provoking chapters in cryptocurrency history.