<p>Police in China have arrested Yang Zuoxing, a former employee of cryptocurrency mining chips manufacturer Bitmain and the current CEO of its rival MicroBT, the maker of WhatsMiner bitcoin miners. </p> <p>Chinese news outlet BlockBeats <a href="https://www.theblockbeats.com/news/4444">reported</a> the news Friday, citing “insiders,” who include Chinese cryptocurrency miners and exchanges. Yang has reportedly been taken into custody over a dispute involving the intellectual property rights of Bitmain.</p> <p>Yang, who was one of the engineers responsible for designing Bitmain's leading miners, left the company in June 2016 after being denied an equity stake by Bitmain co-founder Micree Zhan. <br /> <br /> Soon after leaving Bitmain, Yang founded MicroBT and was sued by Bitmain over patent rights. A court in China ultimately revoked Bitmain’s patent "on grounds that the circuit designs in question were widely used," according to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-08/ex-bitmain-chip-designer-takes-on-crypto-s-mining-goliath" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2018 report by Bloomberg</a>. <br /> <br /> The arrest of Yang appears to be a re-opening of the Bitmain-MicroBT case. Bitmain had initially demanded damages of 26 billion yuan ( ~$3.7 billion) from MicroBT but later reduced the claim to $380,000, according to a CoinDesk <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bitmain-sues-rival-mining-pool">report</a>.</p> <p>Earlier this year, Bitmain also reportedly<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bitmain-sues-rival-mining-pool"> sued</a> another three former employees who started mining pool Poolin, seeking $4 million in damages. Bitmain alleged that the three violated their non-compete agreements.</p> <p>The company is currently also going through a tiff with Micree Zhan, who was<a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/44989/bitmain-co-founder-and-executive-director-micree-zhan-is-out-abruptly"> abruptly ousted</a> from the company last week. Zhan <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/46196/bitmains-ousted-co-founder-micree-zhan-says-he-will-take-legal-action-to-return-to-the-firm">said</a> that he is going to take legal action to return to the firm.</p>