Company:Huobi

From HandWiki
Short description: Digital currency trading platform
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

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]

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

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] On December 22, 2016, its daily transaction volume surpassed 200 billion yuan.[14]

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.[15][16]

In August 2017 Huobi and OKCoin controversially invested 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of idle client funds into wealth-management products.[17][18]

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.[19][1][20][21][22] In response, Huobi adjusted its business and organizational structure to promote global expansion.[23][24] 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.[25] In December 2017, it launched an office in Tokyo, Japan[26] and announced that it would set up two crypto exchanges in Japan in early 2018, through a partnership with Japanese financial group SBI Group.[27] 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.[28]

In September 2021, Huobi announced that it would stop serving customers in mainland China due to new regulations.[29]

In May 2022, it was announced Huobi had acquired the Latin American crypto platform, Bitex.[30]

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.[31]

On July 1, 2016, the Huobi Network Blockchain Research Center published a report, "Blockchain: Defining a New Financial and Economic Future".[32] 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.[33]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Borak, Masha (2018-08-30). "Crypto exchange Huobi completes backdoor listing in Hong Kong". TechNode. https://technode.com/2018/08/30/huobi-backdoor-listing-hong-kong/. 
  2. "China's OkCoin, Huobi exchanges to stop bitcoin withdrawals". reuters.com. 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-bitcoin/chinas-okcoin-huobi-exchanges-to-stop-bitcoin-withdrawals-idUSKBN15P0HE. 
  3. "Crypto Exchanges Are Raking in Billions of Dollars". Bloomberg. 6 March 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-05/crypto-exchanges-raking-in-billions-emerge-as-kings-of-coins/. 
  4. "Behind China's love affair with bitcoin". CNBC. 20 December 2013. https://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/20/behind-chinas-love-affair-with-bitcoins.html/. 
  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. http://www.bjnews.com.cn/invest/2017/12/07/467630.html. 
  6. "About Us | Huobi" (in en-us). https://www.huobigroup.com/about/. 
  7. "火币网:3年升值万倍的比特币 未来价值几何". tech.hexun.com. 2013. http://tech.hexun.com/2013-08-15/157111696.html. 
  8. "区块链鼓吹手徐小平". news.pedaily.cn. 2018. http://news.pedaily.cn/201802/427444.shtml. 
  9. "36氪:数字货币交易所生存指南". 36kr.com. 2018. http://36kr.com/p/5118925.html. 
  10. "火币集团:比特币有形化创新". bbtnews. 2015. http://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2015/0805/115109.shtml. 
  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. http://money.163.com/16/1230/08/C9H7RBEK0025816E.html. 
  12. "Huobi.com Acquires Chinese Bitcoin Wallet Website". ChinaTechNews.com. 8 August 2014. https://www.chinatechnews.com/2014/08/08/20797-huobi-com-acquires-chinese-bitcoin-wallet-website/. 
  13. "火币网累计交易额达10000亿". stockstar.com. 2015. http://if.stockstar.com/SS2015111700001578.shtml. 
  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. http://bank.jrj.com.cn/2017/09/02151023049019.shtml. 
  15. "Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi 'Loses 5,000 BTC' in £1.2m Blunder". International Business Times UK. 25 September 2014. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chinese-bitcoin-exchange-huobi-loses-5000-btc-1-2m-blunder-1467192/. 
  16. "Why One Should Think Twice Before Trading On The Bitcoin Exchanges". Forbes. 25 September 2014. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericxlmu/2014/09/25/why-one-should-think-twice-before-trading-on-the-bitcoin-exchanges/#14a071e02142/. 
  17. "China's two biggest bitcoin exchanges helped themselves to $150 million in idle client funds" (in en-US). Wall Street Conversations. https://www.wallstreetconversations.com/blog/2017/8/22/chinas-two-biggest-bitcoin-exchanges-helped-themselves-to-150-million-in-idle-client-funds. 
  18. "China's biggest bitcoin exchanges are facing scrutiny over how idle client funds are put to use" (in en-US). Quartz. 22 August 2017. https://qz.com/1059179/huobi-and-okcoin-chinas-two-biggest-bitcoin-btc-exchanges-were-themselves-to-150-million-in-idle-client-funds/. 
  19. "Chinese entrepreneurs have some creative responses to the government's crackdown on crypto". MIT Technology Review. 17 April 2018. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610808/chinese-entrepreneurs-have-some-creative-responses-to-the-governments-crackdown-on-crypto/. 
  20. "China Is Said to Ban Bitcoin Exchanges While Allowing OTC". bloomberg.com. 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-11/china-is-said-to-ban-bitcoin-exchanges-while-allowing-otc-trades-j7fofh20. 
  21. "The first of China's top bitcoin exchanges has announced it will suspend trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/14/china-bitcoin-exchange-suspended-bttc-china/. 
  22. "China's three largest bitcoin exchanges will all stop offering local trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/15/chinas-three-largest-bitcoin-exchanges-will-all-stop-offering-local-trading/. 
  23. "火币集团全球化提速 覆盖全球10个区域市场". caijing.com.cn. 2018. http://industry.caijing.com.cn/20180112/4393319.shtml. 
  24. "Japan's bitcoin trading platforms extend to Asia and beyond". asia.nikkei.com. 2017. https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Bitcoin-evolution/Japan-s-bitcoin-trading-platforms-extend-to-Asia-and-beyond. 
  25. "China's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Huobi.com Invests in Singapore's Digital Consulting Firm WXY". kr-asia.com. 2018. https://kr-asia.com/chinas-largest-bitcoin-exchange-huobi-com-invests-in-singapores-digital-consulting-firm-wxy/. 
  26. "Notice Regarding a Basic Agreement on Capital and Business Partnerships with Huobi Group, which engages Cryptocurrency-related Businessesin China-centric Asian Region". sbigroup.co. 2017. https://www.sbigroup.co.jp/english/news/pdf/2017/1207_a_en.pdf. 
  27. "One of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges is coming back to life". Quartz. 7 December 2017. https://qz.com/1149678/chinas-huobi-will-launch-two-bitcoin-exchanges-in-japan-after-beijings-crackdown-on-domestic-trading/. 
  28. Aziz Abdel-Qader (November 27, 2020). "Huobi Granted Initial Approval to Operate in Malaysia". Finance Magnates. https://www.financemagnates.com/institutional-forex/exchanges/huobi-granted-initial-approval-to-operate-in-malaysia/. 
  29. "Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi to clean up existing mainland clients by end-2021" (in en). Reuters. 26 September 2021. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/cryptocurrency-exchange-huobi-clean-up-existing-mainland-clients-by-end-2021-2021-09-26/. 
  30. "Huobi Global Acquires Latin American Platform Bitex" (in en). https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2022/05/huobi-global-acquires-latam-platform-bitex. 
  31. "数字资产研究课题启动 助力数字资产行业发展". xinhuanet.com. 2015. http://www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-04/27/c_127737067.htm. 
  32. "区块链:定义未来金融与经济新格局". hexun.com. 2016. http://book.hexun.com/2016-07-13/184898449.html. 
  33. "中国(深圳)FinTech数字货币联盟筹建". 163.com. 2016. http://money.163.com/16/1221/12/C8QFHA9J002580S6.html.