(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin miner Bitfarms Ltd. appointed a new chief executive officer from within its own ranks as a pressure campaign from spurned suitor Riot Platforms Inc. becomes more pronounced.

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Bitfarms’ board of directors named the company’s Chief Mining Officer Ben Gagnon as CEO, according to a statement Monday. Gagnon is the fifth Bitfarms CEO in the past five years.

Gagnon replaces interim CEO Nicolas Bonta, who filled the role after Bitfarms terminated Geoffrey Morphy from the position in May. Morphy was fired right after filing a lawsuit against the company seeking $27 million in damages for breach of contract.

On the same day of the Gagnon announcement, Riot launched a website called “A Better Bitfarms” with the tag line “It’s Time to Fix Bitfarms’ Broken Corporate Governance.” Spokespeople for Bitfarms and Riot didn’t immediately return requests for additional comment.

Riot has repeatedly criticized Bitfarms for poor corporate governance tied to CEO succession. On April 22, Riot made an unsolicited, $950 million offer to buy the company at $2.30 a share, but was rejected.

When Riot increased its stake in the company last month in a likely move to acquire it by force, Bitfarms adopted a so-called poison pill defense. Riot has built a nearly 15% stake in Bitfarms, right at the threshold that the poison pill would take effect.

“The persistent and inarguable inability of the Bitfarms board to adequately manage CEO succession is a clear indication that change is needed,” the website states under a tab labeled “The Case for Change.”

On June 24, Riot made the announcement that it had nominated three of its own candidates to Bitfarms’ board and that the smaller miner had 21 days to call a special meeting to vote on whether to approve them.

Riot is supporting John Delaney, Amy Freedman and Ralph Goehring for the board, highlighting their experience in government relations, corporate governance and knowledge of the energy industry.

If any of the new candidates are approved, they could replace company chairman Bonta, incumbent director Andrés Finkielsztain as well as any individual who fills the vacancy created by the departure of co-founder Emiliano Grodzki after he was voted off the board at Bitfarms’ most recent annual meeting.

Bitcoin mining companies have been trying to increase market share by acquiring smaller rivals amid thinning profits. An April Bitcoin software update, called “the halving,” has dramatically reduced profit margins for the miners, likely resulting in an estimated $10 billion industrywide reduction in revenue this year.

Lower network fees and a recent fall in the price of Bitcoin are also putting the squeeze on miners.

Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process in which miners use specialized computers to validate encrypted transactions on the blockchain and earn a fixed amount of the token. The more computing power a miner has, the more likely it will receive the reward, spurring mining companies to scale up.

Bitfarms’ share price is up about 32% to $2.67 in the time since it was revealed that Riot was trying to acquire the company on May 28. Riot’s shares are down about 9.4% to $9.40 over the same period.

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