Zuoxing Yang
"Zuoxing Yang is being held by local police to assist an investigation. The investigation is likely over allegations of intellectual property infringement by the firm related to the technology of its rival Beijing-based crypto mining giant Bitmain, according to one source close to MicroBT with knowledge of the matter. The news was first reported by Chinese crypto news source BlockBeats.
The source confirmed that Yang was taken away by local police at the end of October – after the unexpected return to Bitmain of Jihan Wu, co-founder of the firm. Wu seized control of Bitmain last week by ousting the company’s other co-founder and then-chairman Micree Zhan.
Yang was formerly processor design director at Bitmain, responsible for developing the firm’s flagship AntMiner S7 and S9 models around 2016. However, he left the company and raised over $20 million to found MicroBT – which produces the WhatsMiner range of mining devices – after discussions with Zhan and Wu for stock options fell through."
