With his baby face, eyeglasses and go-to outfit of T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, Jihan Wu looks more like a geeky teenager than a self-made billionaire.
But thanks to an early foray into cryptocurrencies, the soft-spoken 32-year-old is sitting on what may be one of the industry’s largest fortunes.
Wu runs Bitmain Technologies Ltd., the world’s dominant producer of cryptocurrency mining chips. The Chinese company has been shrouded in secrecy since its founding five years ago, but Wu is gradually lifting the veil -- and revealing clues about his personal wealth -- as he pursues an expansion beyond the crypto-sphere that may eventually lead to an initial public offering.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Wu said Bitmain booked $2.5 billion of revenue last year and that he and co-founder Micree Zhan together own about 60 percent of the business. While Bitmain has few direct comparables, applying a multiple similar to that of publicly traded chipmakers such as Nvidia Corp. and MediaTek Inc. would give the company a valuation of about $8.8 billion. That would make the co-founders’ holdings worth a combined $5.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Wu, who said he has a smaller stake than Zhan, declined to share details of his net worth, his cryptocurrency holdings and his other personal investments. He has previously said Bitmain is worth $12 billion. Zhan declined to comment.
Given the uncertainty surrounding digital assets and the limited public information about Bitmain, any estimate of the Beijing-based company’s value -- and its owners’ wealth -- inevitably involves a lot of guesswork.
But that could be about to change. An IPO would not only open Bitmain’s books to the world, it would also allow the stock market to assign the company a value in real time. While Wu said he has no specific plans at the moment, he’s open to a listing in Hong Kong -- or in an overseas market with U.S. dollar-denominated shares -- because it would give early investors including Sequoia Capital and IDG Capital a chance to cash out.
A public share sale would be a landmark event for both Bitmain and the broader crypto industry, which is slowly emerging from the shadows. Miners, developers and venture capitalists are opting for more transparency as they try to placate wary regulators and prove that last year’s boom in digital assets was more than just a flash in the pan.
An IPO would also help boost Bitmain’s profile as the company branches out into areas including artificial intelligence, a field that enjoys the full-throated backing of Chinese authorities, unlike cryptocurrencies.
“The challenge is advancing our technology beyond what we’ve already achieved,” Wu said in an interview at the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong.