Wu Ji-han's Blockchain Fortune Legend: From Peking University Prodigy to Billionaire in 8 Years

By March 2026, looking back at Wu Jihan’s entrepreneurial journey, it’s hard to imagine that a graduate with dual degrees in Economics and Psychology from Peking University could achieve a wealth leap from zero to over 10 billion yuan in less than ten years. What’s even more impressive is how this post-80s born in Chongqing, born in 1986, has profoundly changed the development trajectory of blockchain and mining through a series of bold and forward-looking decisions.

Academic Excellence: Wu Jihan’s Peking University Dream and Bitcoin Enlightenment

Wu Jihan hails from Chongqing, graduated from Nankai Middle School in Chongqing, and entered Peking University’s School of Economics in 2005. During university, he demonstrated extraordinary learning ability, ultimately earning dual degrees in Economics and Psychology. As a student, Wu Jihan immersed himself in monetary theory research, idolized Warren Buffett, and studied works like Roger’s Global Investment Travel, laying a theoretical foundation for his later investment decisions.

After graduating in 2009, Wu Jihan entered venture capital, working as an analyst and investment manager. This experience shaped his rigorous analytical skills and risk awareness. In 2011, when this professional investor first encountered Bitcoin, he did not follow the trend blindly but instead conducted in-depth research into Bitcoin’s underlying logic and technical architecture with his characteristic rationality.

Based on this research, Wu Jihan made his first bold decision: investing 100,000 yuan to buy 900 BTC. This decision seemed reckless but reflected a professional investor’s keen insight into emerging assets. Two years later, when BTC’s price rose to $750, this investment provided Wu Jihan with his initial capital for entrepreneurship.

White Paper Translation: Wu Jihan Becomes a Bitcoin Evangelist

In 2013, Wu Jihan’s life took its first turn. He met engineer Chang Jian, and the two shared the same beliefs and adventurous spirit in the cryptocurrency field. These young entrepreneurs rented servers and founded Bitcointalk—the first Bitcoin forum on the Chinese internet.

The significance of Bitcointalk far exceeded its founders’ original intentions. Wu Jihan also undertook a far-reaching task: translating Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System into Chinese, becoming the world’s first to do so. This version later became the most widely circulated Chinese translation, opening the door for millions of Chinese readers to understand Bitcoin’s core principles. As a result, Wu Jihan earned the labels “Bitcoin Evangelist” and “Satoshi’s Follower,” and his influence within the community continued to grow.

Mining Chip: Wu Jihan’s “Magic Wand”

As Bitcoin’s ecosystem developed, Wu Jihan keenly realized the central role of mining chips. His famous saying, “Who can make mining machines, who is the god of the Bitcoin world,” accurately summarized this insight. Based on this, Wu Jihan recognized the importance of the mining industry even before the 2018 price crash.

In the second half of 2013, Wu Jihan co-founded Bitmain with Jihan Zhang, an integrated circuit designer from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. From its inception, the company focused on designing high-speed, low-power custom chips mainly for blockchain and artificial intelligence. In November of the same year, Bitmain launched its first Antminer S1, followed by iterative upgrades to S2, S3, S5, S7, and other series, gradually making Bitmain the global leader in mining hardware.

By 2017, Bitmain’s revenue reached approximately $2.5 billion, and Wu Jihan was named one of the top ten most influential figures in blockchain by Coindesk. Bitmain’s business expanded beyond mining hardware to include Antpool, BTC.com mining pools, and strategic investments in pools like ViaBTC.

BCH Fork Controversy: Wu Jihan’s Decisive Moment

On May 19, 2017, Bitcoin’s price broke through $2,000, with on-chain transaction volume surging and network congestion causing skyrocketing fees. This exposed Bitcoin’s scalability bottleneck. Wu Jihan believed it was time to scale the blockchain, but he fundamentally disagreed with the Bitcoin Core development team.

Bitcoin Core advocated maintaining the 1MB block size limit and developing second-layer solutions outside the main chain. Wu Jihan insisted on increasing the block size. When disagreements became irreconcilable, he decided to implement a hard fork, increasing the block size from 1MB to 8MB, theoretically boosting Bitcoin’s processing capacity by eight times.

On August 1, 2017, ViaBTC, invested by Bitmain, announced the completion of the fork, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was officially born. Antpool immediately enabled seamless switching between BTC and BCH mining. While technically achieving scalability, this move also earned Wu Jihan the reputation of a “splitter” in the Bitcoin community. Some even called him a “traitor” to the Bitcoin white paper, and due to his pinyin name “Jihan,” some sarcastically dubbed him “JIHAD.”

Internal Struggles and Reorganization of Bitmain

The technical and community split caused by BCH’s creation did not bring Wu Jihan the expected benefits. As cryptocurrency prices plummeted in late 2018, Bitmain’s core mining hardware business suffered heavy losses. More complex was internal disagreement over strategic direction.

Wu Jihan, with a background in investment, favored focusing on finance and blockchain services, while Zhang Jihan, with a technical background from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wanted to develop AI chips. This strategic divergence intensified in 2019 amid financial difficulties. Wu Jihan’s internal memo revealed that by October 2019, the company faced a funding gap of up to $300 million.

The ensuing “internal conflict” became a major industry event. The disputes led to mass layoffs and operational chaos. After a series of legal and administrative procedures, including dismissals and license disputes, Wu Jihan and Zhang Jihan reached a settlement. In January 2021, Wu Jihan resigned as CEO and Chairman, and Zhang Jihan acquired the shares of Wu Jihan and other founding shareholders for $600 million, each going their separate ways.

Listing of Bitdeer: Wu Jihan’s New Phase

After the reorganization, Wu Jihan announced the founding of Bitdeer Group and took on the role of Chairman, focusing on blockchain infrastructure. Unlike Bitmain’s hardware-centric approach, Bitdeer adopted a different strategic direction. The new company concentrated on mining sharing, overseas mining farms, and building a global mining ecosystem.

On April 14, 2023, Bitdeer went public on NASDAQ in the United States, with a current market cap of about $870 million. While this is different from Bitmain’s former glory, it marks Wu Jihan’s resurgence after the internal conflicts.

Current Market Perspective: BCH and BTC Status

Based on current market data, Bitcoin (BTC) is priced at $70,630, while BCH is at $469.16. The BCH that Wu Jihan championed over a decade ago, although technically scalable, has not achieved the market position or ecosystem development he envisioned. BCH has gradually fallen behind as a “Bitcoin successor,” and during the 2021 bull market, it did not see significant gains.

Industry Contributions Behind the Controversy

Evaluating Wu Jihan depends on perspective. Unlike some veteran crypto practitioners who carefully craft their image, Wu Jihan possesses both extraordinary talent and flaws like stubbornness. His role in the BCH fork earned him scorn among Bitcoin enthusiasts and the nickname “villain,” but regardless of opinions, his contributions to blockchain are undeniable.

He provided efficient mining hardware for global miners through Bitmain, enabling them to earn Bitcoin rewards more quickly. More importantly, his translation of the Bitcoin white paper, relentless evangelism of blockchain technology, and systemic construction of the mining ecosystem have had a profound impact on the industry. At its peak, Bitmain controlled over 70% of the global Bitcoin mining pool hash rate, illustrating its industry influence.

From starting from scratch to founding Bitmain and listing Bitdeer on NASDAQ, Wu Jihan’s trajectory reflects both ambition and limitations. His story reminds us that in the rapidly changing blockchain world, strategic vision is crucial, but overconfidence and rule-challenging behaviors can also lead to unforeseen consequences.