Huobi

Huobi
Native name
 火币
Public
Industry Bitcoin exchange
Founded 2013
Founder Leon Li
Headquarters Singapore
Key people

Leon Li (Chairman, Founder) Jiawei Zhu (COO) Xianfeng Cheng (CTO) Charlie Tsai (CSO) Xiaofeng Chen (Vice President)

Peng Hu (Vice President)
Website www.hbg.com

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

After its founding in 2013, Huobi become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China.[2] Following a 2017 ban on Bitcoin exchanges by the Chinese government, Huobi stopped Bitcoin withdrawals[3] and shut down its Chinese website, but continued operating overseas as "Huobi Pro", a Seychelles-registered company.[4] Huobi China continues to operate as a blockchain consulting and research platform.[5]

As of March 2018, Huobi processed around US $1 billion in trades daily.[6]

History

Huobi was founded in 2013 by Leon Li (Chinese: 李林; pinyin: Lǐ Lín).[7][8] On May 15, 2013, the Huobi Group (火币集团) acquired the huobi.com domain.[9] On August 1, Huobi launched a simulation trading platform, and on September 1 the Bitcoin trading platform launched. In March 2014, Litecoin transactions were introduced to the platform. In June 2014, Huobi began margin trading and interest accounts for bitcoin.[2] In September 2014, Huobi launched their USD exchange with 24/7 customer service support.[10]

In November 2013, Huobi received angel investments from Dai Zhikang and Zhen Fund.[2][11][12] In 2014, Huobi raised a $10 million venture capital investment from Sequoia Capital.[13][14] In August 2014, Huobi acquired Bitcoin wallet provider Quick Wallet.[15]

In December 2013, trading volume exceeded 30 billion yuan, making Huobi China's largest digital asset trading platform at the time.[16] In June 2016, its total transaction volume reached 1 trillion RMB,[17] 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.[18]

In September 2017, China banned bitcoin exchanges and ICOs.[1][19][20][21] In response, Huobi adjusted its business and organizational structure to promote global expansion.[22][23][24][25][25] In October 2017, Huobi officially expanded into Korea with a new headquarters in Seoul, South Korea,[22] and opened trading in March 2018.[26][27] In November 2017, it launched operations in Singapore with total volume in the first month exceeding 30 billion RMB.[28] In December 2017, it launched an office in Tokyo, Japan[29] and announced that it would set up two crypto exchanges in Japan in early 2018, through a partnership with Japanese financial group SBI Group.[30][31][32][23] In March 2018, Huobi announced that it will be launching in the United States[33][34] and received FinCEN registration.[35]

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.[1]

Products

Huobi Pro

Huobi.Pro is a digital asset trading platform headquartered in Singapore.[36][37]

HADAX

The Huobi Autonomous Digital Asset Exchange (HADAX) is a decentralized exchange with autonomous token listing.[38]

Huobi OTC

Huobi.Pro launched its OTC (Over the Counter) trading platform in November 2017.[39][40]

Huobi China

Huobi's research and development department is located in China and focuses on industry consulting, education, and training services for Chinese blockchain ventures.[41][42]

Huobi Mining Pool

Huobi operates a mining pool. The Huobi Pool did not support a switch to Bitcoin XT.[43]

Huobi Capital

Huobi Capital is an investment fund focused on the blockchain industry,headquartered in Hong Kong, which has raised $10 million.[44]

Huobi Labs

Huobi Labs is a blockchain incubator, dedicated to serving early-stage start-ups of blockchain industry, headquartered in San Francisco.[45] In May 2018, Huobi Labs launched a US$1 billion blockchain fund to bolster domestic business.[46][47]

Huobi Academy

The Huobi Academy of Blockchain Applications is a research institution focusing on technological research, industry analyses, application innovations, trend analyses and business consulting in the field of Blockchain.[48][49]

Huobi Token

Huobi Token (HT) is a cryptocurrency launched by Huobi, running natively on the Ethereum blockchain with ERC-20, and used for Huobi trading.[50]

Research and partnerships

In April 2015, Huobi partnered with Tsinghua University in a "Digital Asset Research Initiative",[51] and sponsored a "Digital Asset Research Project" at the Internet Finance Laboratory of Wudaokou Tsinghua School of Finance.[52][53]

On July 1, 2016, the Huobi Network Blockchain Research Center published a report, "Blockchain: Defining a New Financial and Economic Future".[54] 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.[55]

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.[56][57]

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.[58]

In August 2017 Huobi and OKCoin controversially invested 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of idle client funds into "wealth-management products".[59][60]

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.[61]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Borak, Masha (2018-08-30). "Crypto exchange Huobi completes backdoor listing in Hong Kong". TechNode. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  2. 1 2 3 "Huobi Brings Margin Trading, Interest Accounts to Bitcoin and Litecoin". CoinDesk. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "China's OkCoin, Huobi exchanges to stop bitcoin withdrawals". reuters.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  4. ↑ "Bitcoin Regulation In China Still Unclear, But Chinese Exchanges Thrive Overseas". forbes.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "China's Bitcoin Curtain Call a 'Watershed Moment', Says Huobi Founder". CryptoCoinsNews. 31 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "Crypto Exchanges Are Raking in Billions of Dollars". Bloomberg. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-03-05.
  7. ↑ "Behind China's love affair with bitcoin". CNBC. 20 December 2013.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ "Huobi Launches USD Exchange With 24/7 Customer Support". CoinDesk. 18 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "区块链鼓吹手徐小平". news.pedaily.cn. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "36氪:数字货币交易所生存指南". 36kr.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "火币集团：比特币有形化创新". bbtnews. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "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. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "Huobi.com Acquires Chinese Bitcoin Wallet Website". ChinaTechNews.com. 8 August 2014.
  16. ↑ "《数字资产研究课题》正式启动". tech.huanqiu.com. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "火币网累计交易额达10000亿". stockstar.com. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  18. ↑ "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.
  19. ↑ "China Is Said to Ban Bitcoin Exchanges While Allowing OTC". bloomberg.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  20. ↑ "The first of China's top bitcoin exchanges has announced it will suspend trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  21. ↑ "China's three largest bitcoin exchanges will all stop offering local trading". bloomberg.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  22. 1 2 "China's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Heads to Japan and South Korea With Major Bank Deal". ccn.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  23. 1 2 "China's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Heads to Japan and South Korea With Major Bank Deal". CryptoCoinsNews. 2 January 2018.
  24. ↑ "火币集团全球化提速 覆盖全球10个区域市场". caijing.com.cn. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  25. 1 2 "Japan's bitcoin trading platforms extend to Asia and beyond". asia.nikkei.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  26. ↑ "Huobi Officially Launches in South Korea with 100 Cryptocurrencies". Bitcoin.com News. 31 March 2018.
  27. ↑ "Trading Opens On Crypto Exchange Giant Huobi In South Korea". Cointelegraph. 1 April 2018.
  28. ↑ "China's Largest Bitcoin Exchange Huobi.com Invests in Singapore's Digital Consulting Firm WXY". kr-asia.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  29. ↑ "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.
  30. ↑ "Beijing-based crypto exchange Huobi moving to Japan". Coinpedia. 3 January 2018.
  31. ↑ "One of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges is coming back to life". Quartz. 7 December 2017.
  32. ↑ "Japan's SBI Group Partners With China's Huobi To Launch Two Cryptocurrency Exchanges in Q1". Cryptovest. 4 January 2018.
  33. ↑ "Crypto Exchange Huobi Registers With FinCEN Ahead of US Launch". CoinDesk. 26 March 2018.
  34. ↑ "Bitcoin Exchange Huobi to Open US Office". CoinDesk. 31 January 2018.
  35. ↑ "Huobi Crypto Exchange Set to Launch in the US and Gets FinCEN Registration". BTCManager. 2 April 2018.
  36. ↑ "Huobi.pro Adds Ripio Trading Options". financemagnates.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  37. ↑ "Huobi Pro's HADAX Launches the First Series of Token Voting". businessinsider.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  38. ↑ "Huobi Pro launches world's first autonomous token listing exchange 'HADAX'". Altcoin Today. 10 February 2018.
  39. ↑ "Crypto exchange Huobi.pro launches OTC platform". CryptoNinjas. 4 November 2017.
  40. ↑ "Chinese Investors Continue to Obtain Bitcoin Using Thriving OTC Platforms". bitcoin.com. 30 January 2018.
  41. ↑ "火币集团：将向全球合格投资者提供基于美元的数字资产交易". hexun.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  42. ↑ "火币中国将转型为区块链综合资讯及研究服务平台". xinhuanet.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  43. ↑ "Chinese Mining Pools Call for Consensus; Refuse Switch to Bitcoin XT". Cointelegraph. 24 June 2015.
  44. ↑ "Investing in the Next 'It' Blockchain Isn't So Easy". finance.yahoo.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  45. ↑ "Huobi Group-SBI Group partnership to see launch of 2 new Japanese exchanges". dealstreetasia.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  46. ↑ "Huobi Labs Launches $1Billion Blockchain Fund to Further Research in China". NewsBTC. 2 May 2018.
  47. ↑ "China's Huobi launches US$1 billion blockchain fund to bolster domestic business". South China Morning Post. 3 May 2018.
  48. ↑ "Huobi's Sentiment Index Shows Cryptocurrency Investors Still Bullish". bitcoin.com. 2 April 2018.
  49. ↑ "Hubery Yuan from Huobi attended Myanmar-China Economic Cooperation and Fintech Development Summit forum gave a keynote speech". The Blockchain Domain. 10 April 2018.
  50. ↑ "Huobi Global Sets to Launch Huobi Token (HT)". Cointelegraph. 23 January 2018.
  51. ↑ "Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi Partners with Tsinghua University in Research Initiative". Cointelegraph. 24 April 2015.
  52. ↑ "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.
  53. ↑ "Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi Partners with Tsinghua University in Research Initiative". cointelegraph.com. 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  54. ↑ "区块链：定义未来金融与经济新格局". hexun.com. 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  55. ↑ "中国（深圳）FinTech数字货币联盟筹建". 163.com. 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  56. ↑ "Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Huobi 'Loses 5,000 BTC' in £1.2m Blunder". International Business Times UK. 25 September 2014.
  57. ↑ "Why One Should Think Twice Before Trading On The Bitcoin Exchanges". Forbes. 25 September 2014.
  58. ↑ "Huobi's BitVC Uses Trader Profits to Cover Futures Loss". CoinDesk. 20 November 2014.
  59. ↑ "China's two biggest bitcoin exchanges helped themselves to $150 million in idle client funds". Wall Street Conversations. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  60. ↑ "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.
  61. ↑ "Chinese entrepreneurs have some creative responses to the government's crackdown on crypto". MIT Technology Review. 17 April 2018.
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