Bitmain shuffles sales exec team amid refocus on bitcoin miner sales

Bitmain has laid off its global sales lead amid a broader reshuffling of its executive sales team and a refocusing on bitcoin miner sales, sources close to the matter confirmed to The Block. 

Prior to Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu's abrupt comeback in October, which led to the ouster of another co-founder Micree Ketuan Zhan, Bitmain's sales team was spearheaded by Bill Zhu, the managing director of marketing sales and services.

Working under Zhu were four managers responsible for regional sales efforts in APEC, China, Europe, and North America, respectively, a source close to the matter told The Block under the condition of anonymity.  

However, according to the source, Zhu was laid off on December 2 and there is no current plan to replace him. Instead, Wu has opted to have the four managers take turns in overseeing the entire sales apparatus at Bitmain, with each manager serving as head during each quarter. China sales lead Xiaojun Fan is currently spearheading sales efforts, said the source. 

Fan recently made an appearance at a private client meeting that Bitmain hosted in the city of Chengdu, per a Bloomberg report from Dec. 9. He was previously demoted by Zhan but now "had regained his position," according to Bloomberg.

It's not entirely clear why Zhu was let go. One source cited Zhu's siding with Zhan as the main reason. However, a Bitmain employee close to the matter said his departure was due to health issues. 

Meanwhile, the firm has also undergone a downsizing since Wu's return. A slew of employees have been laid-off, many of which used to work for Huawei or security technology firm 360, said the source. 

“Most of the key people from Huawei or 360 have been laid off,” one of the sources told The Block. “Because those people are hired by Zhan. Now Jihan is arranging his own people into Bitmain.” 

Employees thought to be affected by the job cuts declined to comment or could not be reached. Zhu declined to comment. 

A representative for Bitmain didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shifting strategy, lowering price

Under Wu’s lead, Bitmain is shifting its focus back to miner sales and production. Earlier this month, the firm's recent client meeting in Chengdu was plastered with the slogan: “The Bitmain you are familiar with is back.”

During the meeting, Wu announced a few new miner sales initiatives to claw back market shares, including a reduction of down payments required for purchasing miners. 

The firm may also be looking to compete with its competitors on pricing. According to price quotes obtained by The Block, Bitmain's flagship product Antminer S17 Pro, which has a 50 TH/s hash rate, was priced at around $2,500 in October with a December shipping date. In December, that price dropped to as low as around $1,400.  In comparison, Whatsminer M21S-54T with 54TH/s hash rate is currently priced at around $1,530. 

In early December, Whatsminer announced its latest M30s miners, promising a 88 TH/s hash rate at 38 watts per tera-hash energy consumption rate, which trumped the performance of Bitmain’s Antminers. Meanwhile, Bitmain is said to be rolling out its latest Antminer S19 series early next year, although official details about its performance are still sparse. 

Whatsminer founder Zuoxing Yang was recently arrested by the Prosecutor of the Nanshan District in the city of Shenzhen over alleged embezzlement of RMB 100,000 (around $14,312). Yang, a former chip designer at Bitmain, was said to be reported to the Beijing police by Bitmain for violating trade secrets a while ago, according to Chinese financial news site Caixin. 

Per a recent CoinShares report, Bitmain's market share by hash rate has fallen from around 70% in June to around 66% now.