 | |
Native name | 火币 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Industry | Cryptocurrency exchange |
| Founded | 2013; 12 years ago (2013) |
| Founder | Leon Li |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Leon Li (Chairman,Founder) Jiawei Zhu (COO) |
| Website | htx |
HTX, formerly known asHuobi, is aSeychelles-basedcryptocurrency exchange. Founded inChina, (Chinese:火币网;pinyin:Huǒbìwǎng), HTX now has offices inHong Kong,South Korea,Japan and theUnited States. In August 2018, it became apublicly listedHong 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[update], Huobi processed aroundUS $1 billion in trades daily.[3]
Huobi changed its name to HTX in September 2023.[4]
Huobi was founded in 2013 by Leon Li (Chinese:李林;pinyin:Lǐ Lín).[5][6] An alumnus ofTsinghua University, Li was a computer engineer atOracle before founding Huobi.[7]
On May 15, 2013, the Huobi Group (火币集团) acquired thehuobi.comdomain.[8] On August 1, Huobi launched a simulation trading platform, and on September 1 the Bitcoin trading platform launched.[citation needed]
In November 2013, Huobi receivedangel investments from Dai Zhikang and Zhen Fund.[9][10] In 2014, Huobi raised a $10 millionventure capital investment fromSequoia Capital.[11][12] In August 2014, Huobi acquired Bitcoinwallet provider Quick Wallet.[13]
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,[14] 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 billionyuan.[15]
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.[16]
In August 2017 Huobi andOKCoin controversially invested 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of idle client funds intowealth-management products.[17][18]
In September 2017, the Chinese government bannedinitial 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 intoKorea with a new headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, and opened trading in March 2018.
In November 2017, it launched operations inSingapore with total volume in the first month exceeding 30 billion RMB.[25] In December 2017, it launched an office inTokyo, Japan[26] and announced that it would set up two crypto exchanges in Japan in early 2018, through a partnership with Japanese financial groupSBI Group.[27] In March 2018, Huobi announced that it will be launching in the United States.
In August 2018, in areverse takeover, Huobi acquired a 74% stake in Hong Kong electronics manufacturer Pantronics Holdings, becoming listed on theHong 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 inmainland China due to new regulations.[29]
In September 2023, Huobi announced its rebranding as HTX.[4][30]
In April 2015, Huobi partnered withTsinghua 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]
