[2018-06-08] A Sit-Down With Billionaire Bitcoin Mining Mogul Jihan Wu of Bitmai

[ruthbabe]

An interview with Jihan Wu, the 32-year-old co-founder and co-CEO of Bitmain, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency mining firm, addressed some of the controversy and conspiracy theories that have swirled around Bitmain.

During the interview, he was asked, "Why did decide to put all of your money into Bitcoin when you heard about it in 2011? What made you take that leap?"

The mining mogul replied, "I very quickly grabbed the idea, apprehended it, and thought it would work. Money is not a binary thing—money, or not. It’s more like a scale from zero to one. Something is more like money than other things. That’s the first thing we need to know."

He continued, "So when Bitcoin was invented, it only mattered how many people recognized Bitcoin as money. Two years since it was invented, there were already thousands of registered users on forums like btctalk.org. They came from every corner of the world—German, Russian, American, Chinese, and other countries. Without the Internet, forget the idea because you can find no support—no companions. But with the Internet, people can live very far from each other, and you can find other people who accept the same idea and form consensus and an economy on the Internet. I think that’s a very fundamental catalyst for Bitcoin’s success."

More here, http://fortune.com/2018/06/08/bitcoin-mining-billionaire-bitmain-jihan-wu/

[TraderTimm]

".. and if you're a big enough asshole, you team up with Roger Ver and actively try to block Segwit, which would eliminate my scammy attempt to skim profits from a network I'd be mining empty blocks for."

https://medium.com/bitcoinfoundation/verified-chatlogs-why-jihan-and-jiang-want-to-block-segwit-at-all-cost-bbf068c5ce0f

Its also been reported that Bitmain strong-arms any firm trying to enter the mining market in China, with their local connections and bribed officials.

He also put out some propaganda on youtube, that I won't link to, trying to promote himself and Lyin' Ver's BCash bullshit.

Fuck this guy, he knows exactly the game he's playing, and it may end up that we'll have to fork to turn all of his miners into the world's largest hot-air array if he decides to abuse his position.

[buwaytress]

Ah Bitmain, it couldn't be a better fit to have them featured on Fortune (the same Fortune that has featured on its front page the OneCoin scam artist) so I wouldn't immediately be envious of such prestige. They didn't push him hard enough with this exclusive, which is either really strange or just a demonstration of how little research Fortune journalists are capable of or allowed. I like how he insists they make money from sales and not through what are essentially interest-free loans.

TraderTimm: I think even Mr Wu has shied away from those fruitless crusades with Mr Ver. At least, his pinned Tweet seemed to suggest as much.

[1Referee]

I think even Mr Wu has shied away from those fruitless crusades with Mr Ver. At least, his pinned Tweet seemed to suggest as much.

It's just a smoke screen to make himself look like he isn't involved in such practices. There is an increasing level of discomfort amongst the larger investors due to their anti Bitcoin 'Core' campaign, and it has become so amateurish, that it scares off investors knowing how things work. BCash can fool noobs as much as they want, but that doesn't work with large investors actually thinking before blindly jumping into something.

Bitmain has to sell gear, and the longer BCash's anti 'Core' campaign keeps going, the more potential revenue they will lose. Remember that Bitmain won't remain as big as they are right now for ever, especially not with new (more wealthy and powerfull) players entering the mining space.

Also don't forget that the BCash mining cartel significantly contributed to the massive spam attack last year, all to troll the network. This dude is poison to this ecosystem.

[TraderTimm]

I think even Mr Wu has shied away from those fruitless crusades with Mr Ver. At least, his pinned Tweet seemed to suggest as much.

I suspect similar things. For one, when I track who is mining what - Antminer used to do a lot of nearly empty blocks as a regular thing. They are now mining blocks with transactions - up to the theoretical limit. This change in behavior would underscore a pivot from punishing the network (to the detriment of profit), and back towards the incentives that make the Bitcoin mining network strong.

I think he's also very aware that you can't force a change down people's throats, which the Segwit and other shenannigans proved - even with their resources, the best they could do was delay. This also translates to defending the network. If it really came to it, he knows damn well that if he pisses everyone off and we get consensus to invalidate his entire mining enterprise, that would be an enormous cost for him to rebound from. I doubt that even he has the resources to do it if it happened.

So, we are in a bit of a balance -- but I still don't trust him.

[hv_]

Bitcoin is about to trust nobody, to blame nobody on 'doing wrong'. It is only about you, doing sth with it.