• Bitmain’s flagship Bitcoin miners under fire from Chinese miners after “abnormal” failure rate in its top mining hardware.
  • Heat sinks failure and power supply failure the leading causes of the failure rate.
  • Re-installed leader of the firm, Jihan Wu, blames former CEO’s tactics.

The world’s leading Bitcoin mining hardware firm, Bitmain is under fire after reports emerged from miners less than two weeks to Bitcoin’s (BTC) next halving. According to the reports, the failure rate of the firm’s flagship products in its famed Antminer 17 series, Antminer S17 and Antminer T17 stands at 30%. This represents over six times the normal rate.

The Antminer S17 and T17 models were released to the market in August 2019, selling out in a few minutes later, but miners raised their concerns almost immediately the machines went online. According to reports from Chinese miners on WeChat groups, over 60% of the failing miners faced two major problems.

First, the heat sinks on the Antminer S17 and T17 models are falling off causing the machines to overheat and shut down. Additionally, the power supply fans are also failing and shorting the system. The two fail to control the heat from the miners causing failure of the whole rig.

Jihan blames Micree Zhan for S17’s failure

In a blast to Micree Zhan, Co-founder of Bitmain alongside Jihan Wu, Wu claims Zhan is to blame for the current failures being witnessed. He claims the company took a step back in improving its technology since the success of its Antminer S9/s9+ series mining rigs. In a message addressing the issue, Wu said,

“Being self-centered, he set the wrong direction in research and development, which resulted in the market’s complaints about Bitmain, such as high damage rate and poor stability, especially of the T series.”

Wu reclaimed his position as the CEO of Bitmain after being ousted from the company by Micree in a battle between two of the richest personalities in crypto. As CEO, Wu is calling on the customers to test the performance of the upcoming Antminer S19/S19+ series expected to be released in May this year.