Jihan Wu: Founder of Bitmain and Architect of the Hashpower Empire

Jihan Wu is one of the most consequential builders in crypto’s first decade. As co‑founder of Bitmain, he helped industrialize Bitcoin mining, scale ASIC manufacturing, and shape network dynamics at a time when hashpower was becoming a global commodity. His later ventures, including Bitdeer and Matrixport, show how mining and digital asset infrastructure have matured, diversified, and professionalized—especially in the post‑halving, institutionally driven market of 2025.

From Bitcoin believer to Bitmain co‑founder

Wu discovered Bitcoin early and quickly emerged as a key figure in China’s crypto scene. He co‑founded Bitmain in 2013 with Micree Zhan, and the company became the dominant designer and manufacturer of specialized ASIC miners like the Antminer series, powering much of the network’s exponential hash rate growth through several market cycles. Bitmain’s business model—tight R&D loops, aggressive chip iterations, and global distribution—set the pace for mining hardware for years. For background on the company’s rise and market role, see Bitmain’s public profile and history on Wikipedia and the company’s official site at Bitmain.com.

Building a hashpower empire

By refining ASIC efficiency and scaling production, Bitmain helped miners reach unprecedented energy‑efficiency milestones, translating into competitive hashprice economics across bull and bear markets. This industrialization phase paralleled Bitcoin’s expanding hash rate, visible on charts like Blockchain.com’s network hash rate, and influenced miner profitability metrics tracked by analytics firms such as Hashrate Index.

Bitmain did not merely sell hardware—it helped invent a playbook for modern mining operations, including firmware optimization, fleet management, and facility scaling. The company’s influence extended into protocol politics, notably around block size debates and later the Bitcoin Cash fork, which remains documented in the historical timeline on Bitcoin Cash’s overview.

Leadership transition and new ventures

In 2021, a corporate dispute between co‑founders concluded with Wu stepping down as CEO and agreeing to a structured settlement, marking the end of a lengthy internal battle and the start of a strategic pivot. Coverage of the agreement can be found in reports such as CoinDesk’s account of Bitmain’s founders settling their dispute.

Post‑Bitmain, Wu focused on two pillars:

• Bitdeer, a mining and compute infrastructure company later listed on Nasdaq, signaling a new era of public markets and institutional engagement for mining‑adjacent firms. For listing details, see Nasdaq’s press release on Bitdeer (BTDR).
• Matrixport, a digital asset financial services platform offering custody, trading, and yield products tailored for professional users. Explore the company’s overview at Matrixport.com.

These ventures reflect a broader thesis: mining is converging with high‑performance computing and financial infrastructure, and sustainable growth requires professional capital, risk management, and diversified revenue.

2025 context: Post‑halving miners meet institutional capital

The April 2024 Bitcoin halving compressed block rewards and immediately stressed miner margins, making efficiency, cheap power, and advanced hardware essential. For a primer on halving dynamics and their effects on supply issuance and miner economics, see Coinbase’s explainer on Bitcoin halving.

At the same time, institutional flows—catalyzed by US spot Bitcoin ETF approvals—provided demand‑side ballast for price and liquidity. The ETF milestone is covered in global press such as Reuters’ report on the SEC approving spot Bitcoin ETFs. The result is a two‑speed mining landscape in 2025:

• Operators with scale, modern ASIC fleets, and low‑cost energy contracts continue expanding, often integrating data center services and accelerated computing.
• Smaller miners face margin pressure, forcing consolidation, relocation, or specialization.

Energy considerations remain pivotal. Hashpower follows cheap electricity and regulatory clarity. Macro insights on Bitcoin’s energy footprint and regional distribution are visualized in the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a useful reference for policy debates and site‑selection strategy.

Wu’s enduring playbook: Efficiency, capital, and optionality

Whether via Bitmain’s ASIC roadmap or Bitdeer’s data center strategy, Wu’s approach has consistently emphasized:

• Hardware efficiency: Rapid chip iteration and tuning to enable lower joules per terahash.
• Capital market alignment: Access to financing and public listings that lower cost of capital for infrastructure.
• Business model optionality: Combining mining, hosting, and financial services (e.g., Matrixport) to smooth cyclicality.

For builders and investors, the lesson is clear: in a market governed by protocol arithmetic and energy economics, operational excellence and thoughtful capital structure win across cycles.

Final thoughts

Jihan Wu’s journey—from Bitmain’s ASIC dominance to Bitdeer’s infrastructure push and Matrixport’s financial services—maps the evolution of crypto from cypherpunk roots to industrial scale. In 2025, post‑halving mining, institutional capital, and global energy dynamics define the terrain. The builders who thrive will combine hardware efficiency, smart financing, and operational security—an approach Wu helped popularize and that continues to shape the hashpower economy.