Huobi to Focus More on Regulatory Compliance
- The exchange acquired multiple licenses from various regulators across Asia.
- Focusing on compliance will enable Huobi to attract more traditional institutions to the crypto space.
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According to a press release published on 25 March, the Huobi Group now possesses licenses to operate legally in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Nevada, and various other regions of the world.
Earlier this year, the exchange acquired three separate licenses from Hong Kong regulators—the No. 4 License for advising on securities, the No. 9 License for providing asset management, and the Hong Kong Trust and Company Service Provider License.
Huobi Capital Management, the exchange’s asset management subsidiary, also received regulatory approval to launch three regulated funds—a BTC tracker fund, an ETH tracker fund, and a multi-strategy digital asset fund.
The company announced its new focus towards compliance during the GDF Asia 2021 Conference held online. Mariah Zhao, the COO of Huobi Technology, and Elain Sun, the company’s compliance director, said the exchange will be adopting a global compliance strategy across multiple regions. They noted that the boom in interest cryptocurrencies have seen in the past year has brought to light concerns regarding their volatility and legal ambiguity.
Huobi’s move towards providing a fully-compliant stack of products will make it easier for traditional institutions to enter the market on a large scale, Zhao said during the conference.
“As one of the leaders in this emerging industry, we see it as our responsibility to pave that path toward compliance for others by fully embracing digital asset regulations,” Sun explained.
- The Securities Commission Malaysia ordered Huobi Global to stop all of its activities in the country as it was not registered with the regulator, and was operating illegally.
- The exchange was also directed to disable its website and mobile applications, as well as cease all advertising of its products and services in the country.
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- Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi revealed that it is working on acquiring a crypto trading license in Hong Kong, and on opening a new trading platform in the city.
- The expansion was motivated by the Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) upcoming licensing regime, which could also allow retail investors to trade crypto.
- North Korea’s Lazarus Group has moved around $63.5 million of crypto assets connected to the Harmony bridge hack over the weekend.
- The hackers tried to move a portion of the funds through Binance and Huobi, but the exchanges were able to freeze their account and recover around 124 BTC.