Huobi

Huobi (Chinese: 火币网; pinyin: Huǒbìwǎng) is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange. Founded in China, the company now has offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the United States. In August 2018 it became a publicly listed Hong Kong company.[1]

Huobi
Native name
火币
TypePublic
IndustryBitcoin exchange
Founded2013
FounderLeon Li
Headquarters
Seychelles
Key people
Leon Li (Chairman, Founder)

Jiawei Zhu (COO)
Xianfeng Cheng (CTO)
Charlie Tsai (CSO)
Xiaofeng Chen (Vice President)

Peng Hu (Vice President)
Websitewww.hbg.com

Following a 2017 ban on Bitcoin exchanges by the Chinese government, Huobi stopped Bitcoin withdrawals.[2] Huobi China continues to operate as a blockchain consulting and research platform.

As of March 2018, Huobi processed around US $1 billion in trades daily.[3]

History
李林 Leon Li - Huobi

Huobi was founded in 2013 by Leon Li (Chinese: 李林; pinyin: Lǐ Lín).[4][5] An alumnus of Tsinghua University, Li was a computer engineer at Oracle before founding Huobi.[6]

On May 15, 2013, the Huobi Group (火币集团) acquired the huobi.com domain.[7] On August 1, Huobi launched a simulation trading platform, and on September 1 the Bitcoin trading platform launched.

In November 2013, Huobi received angel investments from Dai Zhikang and Zhen Fund.[8][9] In 2014, Huobi raised a $10 million venture capital investment from Sequoia Capital.[10][11] In August 2014, Huobi acquired Bitcoin wallet provider Quick Wallet.[12]

In December 2013, trading volume exceeded 30 billion yuan, making Huobi China's largest digital asset trading platform at the time. In June 2016, its total transaction volume reached 1 trillion RMB,[13] and in November 2016 1.7 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 60% of the global bitcoin exchange market. On December 22, 2016, its daily transaction volume surpassed 200 billion yuan.[14]

In September 2017, China banned bitcoin exchanges and ICOs.[1][15][16][17] In response, Huobi adjusted its business and organizational structure to promote global expansion.[18][19] In October 2017, Huobi officially expanded into Korea with a new headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, and opened trading in March 2018.

In November 2017, it launched operations in Singapore with total volume in the first month exceeding 30 billion RMB.[20] In December 2017, it launched an office in Tokyo, Japan[21] and announced that it would set up two crypto exchanges in Japan in early 2018, through a partnership with Japanese financial group SBI Group.[22] In March 2018, Huobi announced that it will be launching in the United States.

In August 2018, in a reverse takeover, Huobi acquired a 74% stake in Hong Kong electronics manufacturer Pantronics Holdings, becoming listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In November 2020, Huobi launches Huobi Labuan to realize regulated crypto exchange in Malaysia.[23]

Research and partnerships

In April 2015, Huobi partnered with Tsinghua University in a "Digital Asset Research Initiative", and sponsored a "Digital Asset Research Project" at the Internet Finance Laboratory of Wudaokou Tsinghua School of Finance.[24]

On July 1, 2016, the Huobi Network Blockchain Research Center published a report, "Blockchain: Defining a New Financial and Economic Future".[25] On December 20, 2016, Huobi joined the Fintech Digital Asset Alliance (Shenzhen) along with the Fintech Research Institute of China under the guidance of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.[26]

Huobi has offices in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.

The US strategic partner of Houbi is HBUS, headquartered in San Francisco, California and was launched in July 2018.

Controversy

In September 2014, Huobi announced through its official Weibo account that 920 bitcoin and 8,100 litecoin had been wrongly deposited into 27 different accounts. The firm, returned the lost cryptocurrency.[27][28]

In November 2014, alongside its plan to pool 20% of all trading fees into a 'system reserve fund', Huobi informed CoinDesk it has now reimbursed all users who suffered from its "system loss allocation policy" in the form of credit for future trading fees.

In August 2017 Huobi and OKCoin controversially invested 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of idle client funds into "wealth-management products".[29][30]

In September 2017, the Chinese government banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) and trading on domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, rendering many people's holdings effectively worthless, including those of users on Huobi's exchange.[31]

References
  1. Borak, Masha (2018-08-30). "Crypto exchange Huobi completes backdoor listing in Hong Kong". TechNode. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  2. "China's OkCoin, Huobi exchanges to stop bitcoin withdrawals". reuters.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  3. "Crypto Exchanges Are Raking in Billions of Dollars". Bloomberg. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-03-05.
  4. "Behind China's love affair with bitcoin". CNBC. 20 December 2013.
  5. "火币与日本SBI集团将合作成立两家数字货币交易所 寻找中国创客". bjnews.com.cn. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  6. "About Us | Huobi". www.huobigroup.com. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
  7. "火币网：3年升值万倍的比特币 未来价值几何". tech.hexun.com. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  8. "区块链鼓吹手徐小平". news.pedaily.cn. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  9. "36氪:数字货币交易所生存指南". 36kr.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  10. "火币集团：比特币有形化创新". bbtnews. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  11. "月利润2个亿、红杉和IDG将投资 挖矿巨头比特大陆直奔IPO？". 163.com. 2013. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  12. "Huobi.com Acquires Chinese Bitcoin Wallet Website". ChinaTechNews.com. 8 August 2014.
  13. "火币网累计交易额达10000亿". stockstar.com. 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  14. "火币集团将交易手续费统一调整为0.2% 以抑制投机". jrj.com.cn. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  15. "China Is Said to Ban Bitcoin Exchanges While Allowing OTC". bloomberg.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  16. "The first of China's top bitcoin exchanges has announced it will suspend trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  17. "China's three largest bitcoin exchanges will all stop offering local trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  18. "火币集团全球化提速 覆盖全球10个区域市场". caijing.com.cn. 2018. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  19. "Japan's bitcoin trading platforms extend to Asia and beyond". asia.nikkei.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  20. "China's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Huobi.com Invests in Singapore's Digital Consulting Firm WXY". kr-asia.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  21. "Notice Regarding a Basic Agreement on Capital and Business Partnerships with Huobi Group, which engages Cryptocurrency-related Businessesin China-centric Asian Region" (PDF). sbigroup.co. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  22. "One of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges is coming back to life". Quartz. 7 December 2017.
  23. Aziz Abdel-Qader (November 27, 2020). "Huobi Granted Initial Approval to Operate in Malaysia". Finance Magnates. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  24. "数字资产研究课题启动 助力数字资产行业发展". xinhuanet.com. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  25. "区块链：定义未来金融与经济新格局". hexun.com. 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  26. "中国（深圳）FinTech数字货币联盟筹建". 163.com. 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  27. "Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi 'Loses 5,000 BTC' in £1.2m Blunder". International Business Times UK. 25 September 2014.
  28. "Why One Should Think Twice Before Trading On The Bitcoin Exchanges". Forbes. 25 September 2014.
  29. "China's two biggest bitcoin exchanges helped themselves to $150 million in idle client funds". Wall Street Conversations. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  30. "China's biggest bitcoin exchanges are facing scrutiny over how idle client funds are put to use". Quartz. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  31. "Chinese entrepreneurs have some creative responses to the government's crackdown on crypto". MIT Technology Review. 17 April 2018.
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