Huobi Group Returns to U.S. With New Trust License

The firm behind the global crypto exchange Huobi, Huobi Group, is preparing to come back to the U.S. one year after its abrupt departure, the company said in a press release on 22 December.

According to the announcement, the firm’s wholly owned subsidiary, Huobi Trust, was awarded a Trust Company License from the Nevada Financial Institutions Division. The newly acquired license will allow the firm to offer custodial and compliance services in the U.S. starting 2021. Once established, the trust could potentially provide traditional investors with exposure to cryptocurrencies. The executive director of Huobi, Lan Jianzhong, did warn investors that Huobi Trust is yet to provide services in the U.S., saying:

“Huobi Trust has not yet commenced provision of any such trust services as at the date of this announcement. Shareholders and potential investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the Compan.”

Huobi warned its U.S. users it will be freezing their accounts back in November 2019, when it said the American crypto regulatory environment had forced it to prohibit U.S.-based users from its platform. The operator of its U.S. exchange, Huobi US (HBUS) — which ran and operated independently from the global Huobi exchange — officially ceased its operations on 9 December.

Since departing from the U.S., Huobi Group has put effort into expanding its influence around the world. Towards the end of 2019, Huobi Indonesia announced the launch of a regional fiat gateway as part of its “global expansion strategy”. In January 2020, Huobi Group also revealed its all-new digital asset brokerage platform called Huobi Brokerage.

The firm also paid attention to its technological development, and announced the launch of its public Huobi Chain testnet in March 2020. It was designed in cooperation with the Nervos network ecosystem, and supported DeFi apps and services such as tokenized assets, lending, identity verification and payments. The firm’s native-to-the ecosystem Huobi Token also became the first exchange token to be approved in Japan.