Executives of Renren Mining are under police investigation, and FIL mining has reached a dead end in China

Source: Chain New
Author: Yang Zhengjun/Liao Yu

On December 14, several senior executives of Renren Mining were taken away by the police for investigation at their office in Chengdu, and they have been out of contact since then. Currently, the operations of Renren Mining are almost at a standstill, with the app unable to log in, users unable to withdraw funds, and customer service occasionally responding, but only urging everyone to remain calm.

This is the second major FIL mining company to be investigated by the police since the Interstellar Alliance was suspected of pyramid schemes and placed under investigation in November.

Industry analysts indicate that domestic FIL miners are either being investigated by the police or preparing to "run away." With the continuous decline in FIL prices, FIL mining in China has reached its end.

1. Executives Taken Away for Investigation, Employees Working Normally

Recently, some media reported that several senior executives of the well-known FIL miner Renren Mining (RRMine) were taken away by the police for investigation on December 14.

Chain New found that the official website of Renren Mining (renrenmine.com) currently has only two messages: one is an announcement about the suspension of computing power sales in mainland China, and the other is a reminder for existing users to verify the identity of after-sales customer service to avoid scams.

On December 22, Chain New visited the office of Renren Mining—Chengdu Yintai Center IN99—as an investor. Employees of the domestic entity of Renren Mining, Anmai Cloud, were still at work. A staff member confirmed that the executives being taken away for investigation was true. However, this staff member stated that it was for understanding the situation and cooperating with the investigation, not an arrest. Currently, the company's machines are still operating, but withdrawals are not possible.

However, in the investor group of Renren Mining, the situation is quite different. Investors are very agitated, with various speculations ongoing. Many raised issues such as being unable to withdraw funds, the app being unable to log in, and customer service not responding, demanding explanations regarding the investigation of the executives.

In response to investors' doubts, the official customer service stated: "System upgrades have caused server bugs, leading to delays in withdrawals," "Please wait patiently for official notifications," and "We will notify you as soon as there is news; please do not speculate wildly."

On December 22, the official customer service announced: "Due to cooperation with relevant departments for investigation, services are suspended. Normal services will resume after the investigation is completed. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused."

This is the first time the official customer service has acknowledged that the company is under investigation.

Investor Xiao Li (pseudonym) told Chain New that he invested over one million yuan in Renren Mining. After seeing news online about the executives being arrested a few days ago, his first reaction was "it's over," and he hurriedly applied for a withdrawal on the app, but it has not been credited. Later, the app also became inaccessible. To clarify the situation, he contacted the investigating agency in Heze, Shandong, but did not receive a clear response, only that it involved some cases and was under investigation.

In the investor group, there are many who have invested hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan in Renren Mining, and everyone is anxious, but the official has not provided more information, only urging everyone to remain calm. Meanwhile, the official customer service stated that they are processing some withdrawal requests manually, but very few have reported receiving their funds.

Before publication, Chain New contacted Anmai Cloud and the relevant investigating agencies but received no response.

2. The Mining Business Behind the "Tech Giants"

Renren Mining, also known as RRMine or renrenmine, is a well-known FIL miner in China, with its business currently distributed across multiple countries worldwide.

According to Qichacha, the trademarks "Renren Mining" and "RRMine" belong to Youcai Limited, with Wu Wenjie as the company's director. Additionally, Hainan Anmai Cloud Network Technology Co., Ltd. is also applying to register these two trademarks, with Wu Wenjie as the legal representative, holding a direct stake of 50.41%, along with some indirect holdings.

According to the overseas official website of Renren Mining, RRMine was established in 2017 and is a storage service platform under Hong Kong's SuperB Grace Limited (Youcai Limited), currently focusing on providing users with secure and transparent decentralized storage services.

Informed sources told Chain New that Renren Mining primarily provided ETH and BTC computing power services in 2017 and 2018, and started offering IPFS computing power products in 2020, quickly becoming a leading miner in the Filecoin field. Among the top ten FIL miner nodes globally, 2-3 belong to Renren Mining, which accounts for about 10% of the global Filecoin computing power.

At the 2021 World Blockchain Conference held in Hangzhou on July 25, RRMine's East China regional head Fang Yan stated that Renren Mining's IPFS computing power had completed deployments in countries and regions such as Australia, Germany, the United States, and China, covering four continents and nine regions, with computing power exceeding 800 PiB.

According to statistics from atpool.com, the current total computing power of the FIL network is 14 EiB, while on July 25, the total computing power was 8 EiB (approximately ten times 800 PiB).

In 2020, RRMine's global CEO Zou Yongcheng stated in a media interview that RRMine's BTC computing power management and trading scale had reached the top three in the industry; in the 2020 Filecoin space race, RRMine ranked eighth globally.

According to publicly available media reports, Wu Wenjie obtained his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and joined Sony's subsidiary, Soochow, in 2003, responsible for developing the new media market for television.

In 2013, Wu Wenjie, then general manager of new media at Soochow, resigned to establish Moyun Technology. Between 2014 and 2017, the company received multiple rounds of investment from Ventech China, Qif Capital, Xijin Capital, and others, with total financing reaching several tens of millions.

After Renren Mining was established in 2017, Wu Wenjie's previous entrepreneurial partners also entered the mining industry. According to Qichacha, among the investors of Anmai Cloud are Chen Lu, Dong Zheng, and others who were Wu Wenjie's partners in the early days of Moyun Technology.

Due to years of experience in the internet industry and entrepreneurial accumulation, Wu Wenjie's new venture went very smoothly. In 2019, shortly after its establishment, Anmai Cloud became one of the first members of the "Chain Shanghai Hainan" ecological alliance, and Renren Mining quickly became one of the top miners in China within just a few years.

However, Wu Wenjie rarely appears publicly in connection with Renren Mining or RRMine. In front of the public and media, he is the founder and chairman of Anmai Cloud, a "tech giant."

In September 2021, at the 2021 China International Service Trade Fair hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and the Beijing Municipal Government, and at the 2021 Digital Infrastructure Forum hosted by People's Daily on December 4, Wu Wenjie spoke as the founder and chairman of Anmai Cloud.

In an interview with the People's Political Consultative Conference website in March 2021, Wu Wenjie stated that the future market will be one where centralized cloud computing and decentralized cloud computing coexist and develop, aiming to make Anmai Cloud the number one enterprise in global decentralized market share within the next three years.

In public appearances, it is often Renren Mining's global CEO Zou Yongcheng who represents Renren Mining or RRMine. However, according to Qichacha, Zou Yongcheng holds no shares in Anmai Cloud, Youcai, or other companies.

3. China's Crackdown on Mining, FIL Miners on the Brink

On September 24, 2021, the People's Bank of China and ten other ministries issued a notice on "Further Preventing and Handling Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation," while the National Development and Reform Commission and eleven other departments released a notice on "Rectifying Virtual Currency 'Mining' Activities." Subsequently, virtual currency exchanges and mining companies announced their withdrawal from the Chinese market.

On September 30, Renren Mining's official website announced that due to adjustments in the focus of global development, RRMine would completely close its computing power sales business in mainland China at 19:00 Beijing time on September 30.

However, informed sources revealed that FIL mining is much more complex than BTC mining, with higher requirements for data centers and hardware. It is challenging to fully transfer FIL mining operations abroad. Currently, domestic FIL miners, including Renren Mining, have not genuinely moved all mining operations overseas.

In November, the Interstellar Alliance, another well-known domestic FIL miner, was investigated by the police. According to a message released by the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau on November 6, the Fengxian Public Security Bureau in Xuzhou arrested 31 members of the Interstellar Alliance's network pyramid scheme in cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan, and Shenzhen, seizing virtual currencies such as Ethereum, Tether, and FIL worth approximately 400 million yuan.

An investor in the Interstellar Alliance told Chain New that since November, he has been unable to withdraw funds from his account. The operating entity of the Interstellar Alliance, Xingchi (Shanghai) Network Technology Co., Ltd., announced that at the request of the police, the company has handed over relevant technical accounts and permissions to the police, and normal operations will resume after the investigation is completed.

Legal analysts have stated that with domestic FIL miners being investigated one after another, FIL mining in China will be difficult to sustain. Currently, the Interstellar Alliance has been classified as suspected of pyramid schemes, while Renren Mining has not yet been classified, but it is certainly not simply due to engaging in mining activities; mining falls within the scope of the crackdown. If classified as a pyramid scheme, the involved funds will be confiscated. However, the final outcome still awaits an authoritative announcement.