MicroBT Founder Charged and Arrested for Embezzlement

The Chief Executive Officer of MicroBT, Yang Zuoxing has been apprehended in connection with embezzlement.

The apprehension was disclosed by the Shenzhen Nanshan District Prosecutor on the 12th of December and was broadcasted by the popular Chinese media house, Caixin on the 15th of December. This event is coming at a time when MicroBT is in a tough battle with major competitor Bitmain for market dominance.

The prosecutors announced on the 12th that they had just approved the apprehension of Yang following embezzlement allegations.

Caixin announced in their report that the apprehended suspect was indeed Yang alleging that he embezzled 100,000 yuan, which is roughly $15,000. Yang is the founder of MicroBT which currently dominates a 40% market share in the Bitcoin mining equipment market.

This apprehension follows previous media releases that Yang was invited by the local police over an investigation related to IP dispute sometime last month. However, it was unclear if he was imprisoned then.

This event is also happening at a time when MicroBT is making substantial strides in obtaining dominance in the miner production market from Bitmain as the company has been slowly losing hold of the market over 2019.

Though the prosecutors have failed to clarify if the embezzlement saga is associated with Yang’s company or his former employer Bitmain, the publication claims that this move was enacted after a failed lawsuit against Yang over infringement of IP.

Bad Blood Between Yang and Bitmain
Yang was previously the Design Director at Bitmain and was responsible for creating the company’s popular AntMiner models in 2016 which grossed over $1 billion in profits after the sale in 2017 and another billion dollars in 2018.

Yang later broke away from the company to start his own, MicroBT, after necessary agreements were made. However, in 2017, Bitmain accused Yang of violating pre-set IP infringement agreements of their products and charged him to an IP court.

In 2018 however, Yang and his team succeeded in appealing to the IP court to drop the case filed against him as it was invalid. Soon after the case was thrown out.