The Chief Technical Officer of OKCoin, Changpeng Zhao is leaving his position with the exchange after only eight months allegedly due to creative differences with the men upstairs.
While neither party has commented about the nature that led to the separation, I cannot help but wonder if the recent bitcoin-related problems being experienced in China had anything to do with Zhao’s exit. OKCoin, after all, is a China-based bitcoin exchange, and when talking about his future plans, Zhao mentioned that he is still open to a positon in the bitcoin commercial community, but that the current state of affairs in the digital currency world could force him to take an extended leave:
“I am pretty sure I will still be in the bitcoin space. I think we’ve entered a winter phase in the bitcoin industry, but I strongly believe it will pass.”
Winter phase indeed… We’re all aware of the alleged Ponzi scheme that took place within the corporate borders of MyCoin, the China-based exchange that sunk into the depths with over $8 million of its investors’ funds. Following this event, bitcoin exchange BTER suffered a vicious cyberattack that saw to the theft of nearly $2,000,000 in bitcoins. Since the fate of BTER has been confirmed, similar circumstances have been witnessed with exchanges Excoin and HitBTC, and other platforms such as Huobi (also based in China) have encountered security breaches. The attacks continuing, China’s lawmakers have been very strict these past few weeks when it comes to placing a full ban on bitcoin and related digital currencies.
Given all this, one can easily assume that Zhao is probably saving himself from what is looking like a problematic future. If indeed things do escalate in such a way in the bitcoin world, and if the country does eventually place a ban on bitcoin, it would probably be best if Zhao and other figures in his position do their best to protect themselves. While the future of bitcoin in China remains unconfirmed for the time being, an extended leave might do all bitcoin enthusiasts in the East some good… At least until the malicious side of things die down a bit.