Huobi exchange to move Asian headquarters to Singapore

Huobi, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms globally, has announced shifting its Asian headquarters to Asia. The exchange’s co-founder, Du Jun, confirmed this transition according to a recent report by Bloomberg.

Huobi was once the largest cryptocurrency exchange in China. This comes amidst a tough regulatory climate in China, where cryptocurrency mining and cryptocurrency trading is banned.

Singapore becomes the new regional headquarters for Huobi

Singapore is now the new base for Huobi Global after the exchange turns its focus away from Beijing. Speaking to Bloomberg, Du Jun stated that he has been based in Singapore since his return to the exchange in late 2020.

Besides moving to Singapore, Huobi will also be setting up new regional headquarters in France or the UK. Du Jun stated that these new headquarters would be set up in 2023.

This will not be the first time that Huobi has been operating in Singapore. The exchange has been running its operations in Singapore for several years. However, the new announcement that it will be moving its regional headquarters here shows the extent of the country moving away from its home market, China.

The Southeast Asia region is one of the largest crypto markets globally. According to Du Jun, the number of crypto traders in the region increased four times over the past month. Thereby, having its headquarters in Singapore will allow the exchange to tap into this vast market.

The regulatory climate in Singapore

The exchange is leaving China because of regulatory hurdles, but its announcement to move to Singapore is also surprising as it faces a tough regulatory climate there.

At the beginning of this month, Huobi issued a notice to its users based in Singapore, stating that it will stop extending its services to them by March 31, 2022. The exchange stated that the action was because of compliance with the existing regulations.

In the notice, Huobi stated, “We will be closing the accounts of all Singapore-based users on March 31, 2022. Access to our service by Singapore-based users will also be gradually phased out before March 31, 2022. All Singapore-based users should take immediate action to close out all active positions and withdraw all digital assets before March 31, 2022.”

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