Jihan And The fall Of Bitmain

During the 2x block size debate, Jihan famously tweeted with “fuck your mother if you want fuck” to Mr.Hodl. A tweet that has now become part of Bitcoin history. Reddit user u/lobt created the image and reddit post and explained the history behind it:

fuck your mother if you want fuck.

— Jihan Wu (@JihanWu) May 15, 2016

This was during the 2x block size debate. BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Protocol) 109 was an attempt to increase the block size to handle increasing transaction volume. Abstract: One-time increase in total amount of transaction data permitted in a block from 1MB to 2MB, with limits on signature operations and hashing.

Luke said:

“FYI, patching Core with BIP 109 would not be Bitcoin Core compatible per our agreement.”

MrHodl chimed in:

“Well. Some of us give two fucks about your 2MB hardfork. Luke (being the nice guy he is), is still coding it up for you.”

Jihan replied:

“fuck your mother if you want fuck.”

It was meant as a direct insult to MrHodl. Jihan was angry about the community not wanting 2MB blocks.

Jihan Wu is being removed as co-CEO of Bitmain who did some controversial things while Jihan was in power.

• Using covert ASICBoost (patented software which gave Bitmain an advantage over other miners), while disabling it for others.
• Campaigned against Segwit by spreading false information. Segwit destroyed Bitmain’s covert ASICBoost advantage (Segwit changes the way miners recompute the witness commitment which is stored in the coinbase).
• Smearing BTC and promoting BCH as a way to maintain their covert ASICBoost advantage.
• Inserting backdoor vulnerabilities in their firmware (Antbleed), which could potentially be used to remotely shut off miners
• Bitmain sold used miners as “new.” As a result, customers frequently had their shipments delayed, and the miners had their lifespans reduced.

Bitmain was the market leader in ASIC development. They tried to control the Bitcoin network. When they couldn’t, they put their full weight behind BCH and failed miserably. Lost ~$1,200,000,000 USD in 2018.

Let this be an example that miners DON’T control Bitcoin. Also, BTC showed resiliency in the face of contentious hard forks.

This image (with small modification and text from an original reddit post by u/lobt)