The Huobi Group will move its spot trading operations to Gibraltar after the city-state’s Financial Services Commission has already given the green light to the initiative, according to a recent report.
Gibraltar Caught The Attention of Huobi
Following the total crypto ban imposed by the People’s Republic of China, many local companies started migrating their services outside the borders of the most populated country. The Huobi Group, one of the leading digital asset exchanges in China, has chosen to move its spot trading operations to the small British overseas territory of Gibraltar.
According to Du Jun – Co-Founder of Huobi Group – the global digital asset industry is heading “towards compliant growth,” and his company should not fall behind that trend. He said moving some of the services to Gibraltar is a “milestone” as crypto-related businesses can thrive in the country:
“Gibraltar, as a highly experienced, sophisticated, and globally recognized international financial services center, fits our needs well.”
It is worth mentioning that at a shareholders meeting in September, Huobi’s founders and backers unanimously voted for the company to exit the Chinese market. Shortly after, the People’s Republic of China reiterated its cryptocurrency ban, and the trading venue moved part of its operations to Singapore.
It looks like Huobi is poised to radically change the digital asset environment in which it operates: from China’s hostile stance to the crypto-friendly borders of Singapore and now Gibraltar. The latter is among the leaders in terms of blockchain adoption. It has a regulated cryptocurrency regime designed to protect businesses that deal with the asset class.
As Albert Isola – Gibraltar’s Minister for Digital and Financial Services – noted not too long ago, the UK Overseas Territory is “the first jurisdiction to have a DLT legal framework in place of distributed ledger technology to authorize and supervise businesses in this space ”.
Huobi Stopped Accepting New Users form China
The Chinese crackdown on crypto forced Huobi to suspend new users opening accounts with mainland China mobile numbers and planned to block existing local clients from accessing its platform by the end of 2021.
“To comply with local laws and regulations, Huobi Global has ceased account registration for new users in Mainland China. Huobi Global will gradually retire existing Mainland China user accounts by 24:00 (UTC+8) on Dec 31, 2021, and ensure the safety of users’ assets,” Huobi officially announced.
Still, the restrictions did not apply to Hong Kong users, and for now, they can open accounts for the first time.
