Huobi founder sells the exchange to Hong Kong investment firm

Leon Li Lin, the founder of crypto exchange Huobi Global, is selling his controlling stake to a Hong Kong investment firm, About Capital, according to Huobi’s website. The company said the deal has no impact on Huobi’s core business.

About Capital said that under its control, Huobi “will embrace a series of new international brand promotion and business expansion initiatives including a global strategic advisory board led by leading industry figures, the injection of sufficient capital in margin and risk provision fund, as well as measures to further enhance competitiveness.” 

An agreement has been reached between both parties that will leave “no impact on Huobi’s core operation and business management teams,” according to the blog post.

In late 2019, Huobi halted its operations in the US and hasn’t reopened since. It also stopped its operations in China in 2021 shortly after a sweeping state-wide crackdown on cryptocurrencies by Chinese authorities ordered the exchange to stop registering accounts with mainland Chinese phone numbers and halt trading derivatives in China.

This August, Li Lin was reportedly looking to sell his majority stake in Huobi, with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Tron CEO Justin Sun reportedly having “preliminary talks” with him. Bankman-Fried later claimed that FTX was not planning to acquire it. 

After rumors of the possible acquisitions first broke, Huobi’s cash-backed stablecoin HUSD suddenly slipped its USD peg by over 15% before regaining the peg the next day. Token issuer Stable Universal blamed a “time difference in banking hours” that “resulted in a short-term liquidity problem.”

This September, Huobi also delisted Monero, Zcash, and five more privacy coins citing “latest financial regulations.”