Former Bitmain Chip Designer Arrested For Alleged Embezzlement

Yang Zuoxing, the founder of the Bitmain's rival company, who left the company in June 2016, has been arrested in China on charges of embezzlement, according to Bloomberg.

What Happened

Yang Zuoxing, former chip designer for mining hardware giant Bitmain Rival, was arrested in Shenzhen on suspicion of embezzlement of about $15,000.

A statement released by the prosecutors in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district broke the news of the arrest and said legal procedures were ongoing.

The statement, however, did not mention Yang’s full Chinese name, presumably to protect his anonymity, according to Bloomberg.

Why It Matters

Bitmain has recently been facing fierce competition from its rival companies, especially MicroBT, the company that Yang founded after leaving Bitmain in June 2016.

Yang earlier told Bloomberg News that he helped Bitmain design its popular mining tools, but left the company after Wu and Zhan declined his request for a stake in the business.

MicroBT’s Whatsminer 20 series mining rigs have been the industry’s best-seller models so far this year. The company earlier said that it was expecting 200,000 orders, worth $400 million for the latest M20 series models between July and September 2019.

Police in China earlier detained Yang in November to assist an investigation over possible IP dispute, though that might not mean he was arrested at the time, according to Coindesk.