The power struggle in Bitmain is showing no sign of stopping. While many have anticipated that the saga will soon reach a very nasty end, few thought the internal struggle would affect the company’s growing global business operations.

However, the latest information coming from the world’s largest Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer shows that drama between founders did manage to take a toll on its customers.

On Aug. 6, Bitmain announced that it has postponed product orders for the latest series of its Antiminer hardware. In a statement published earlier today on WeChat, the company said that product orders that were originally scheduled for delivery in the period between June-July 2020 will be postponed to September and October this year.

Customers who have pending orders with Bitmain that have been postponed can select one of two ways to proceed. Those wanting to wait for their shipment will be reimbursed for the delay—Bitmain said that the compensation amount will match the mining revenue the user would have made with the hardware during the waiting period.

If users decide to go down this route, the company will begin calculating hardware’s theoretical revenue from the 11th day of the delayed delivery until the day before the hardware is delivered. Users that don’t receive their Antminers within 60 days can apply for a refund. However, these two options are mutually exclusive, the company noted in the statement.  

While Bitmain made it clear that not all product orders have been postponed, the news about the delay has put Bitmain’s internal struggle into the spotlight again. The announcement states “external interference” with the company’s operation and management as the reason behind the major shipment delay.

This leads many to suspect more drama has been going on within Bitmain, making it the 10th turbulent month in a row for the company. Micree Zhan and Jihan Wu, the founders of Bitmain, have been embroiled in a bloody battle for control of the company since last fall when Wu ousted Zhan from the company. Despite heavy coverage, the details on why Zhan was ousted still remain unclear. He owns 36% of Bitmain and is the largest shareholder of the company headquartered in the Cayman Islands. He managed to return to power this June, taking control of Bitmain’s factory in Shenzhen. 

However, Wu still controls a large part of the company and has most of the board members on his side. His faction within the company controls the official WeChat account of the Antminer brand, which published the announcement earlier today. 

However, while Zhan managed to take over the company’s production, Wu has control over Bitmain Hong Kong, the parent company of Bitmain Beijing. This is especially important as Bitmain Hong Kong has full control over the entire supply chain of the miners’ most important part—the chips.