One of the largest cryptocurrency trading exchanges, Huobi, is now considering expanding its services to China. Huobi head Justin Sun believes this will be a big change for the company with the hope that China will contribute positively to its growth.
Before now, the Chinese government placed some restrictions in cryptocurrencies. The idea is to keep citizens safe from possible fraud and risks in the crypto space. It also warned citizens not to transact with crypto, stating that it is illegal. But it appears that the narrative is about to change in Hong Kong.
Huobi Expansion In Hong Kong
Hong Kong plans to continue its interest in the crypto industry by legalizing retail crypto trading. However, according to a reports Bloomberg in October 2022, the city will implement a mandatory licensing regime from March 2023.
So, Huobi’s decision to expand its services to the region will favor exchanges and crypto investors in Hong Kong. The regulation will remove restrictions on crypto transactions allowing exchanges to operate freely and investors to transact with confidence.
According to Justin Sun, Hong Kong is suitable for crypto transactions. He disclosed the information in the interview with Bloomberg TV.
Hong Kong is currently planning to attract the interest of crypto investors by legalizing retail trade with crypto. It announced the plan last year as the industry battled FTX’s collapse and contagion.
Based on Sun’s statement, bringing exchange services to the area can bring more to the industry by helping to reactivate the interest of residents in the area. Sun also believes that Hong Kong is not the only area where crypto transactions are profitable. According to Sun, the prominent areas where cryptocurrency can develop are the Caribbean and Malaysia.
This Year’s Early Huobi Challenge
Like some other crypto exchanges, Huobi also faced some difficulties at the beginning of 2023. At that time, they witnessed increased withdrawals from users amounting to more than $60 million in 24 hours.
The incident led to the de-pegging of Huobi’s original digital assets. But Sun decided to intervene by offering his own money to deal with the growing problem.
He transferred about $150 million of stablecoins to the Huobi platform from Binance to restore and maintain the trust of crypto exchange users.
However, HUSD continues to trade below the benchmark at $0.1332 as of this writing. Huobi’s original token, HT, is currently trending above $5.
HT price trending at $5.05 | Source: HTUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from Tradingview.com