Huobi To Setup Regional Headquarters in Singapore
Despite the challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry around the world, it has continued to thrive and grow. The last five months have been especially tough for the crypto communities in some countries as their governments passed laws or regulations that either completely outlawed cryptocurrencies or made it difficult to assess them without heavy sanctions.
China remains the biggest example of this for several reasons. First, China had one of the biggest crypto communities in the world, with investments running into hundreds of billions of dollars. The other reason is that China also had the biggest crypto mining industry in the world. But in September, it all changed. The Chinese government outlawed cryptocurrencies.
The effect was immediate. Investors struggled to sell off their crypto assets to minimize their losses. This created a market-wide panic that saw bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies lose value within hours. But it didn’t end there; Huobi and Binance, two of the biggest crypto exchange platforms, quickly suspended new user registration from mainland China.
Exit From China
Next, Huobi and other crypto companies exited China and announced that they would seek new homes with crypto-friendly policies. Huobi, in particular, scrambled to move its staff out of China. But in what appears to be a twist in the story, Huobi has now chosen Singapore as its regional headquarters.
The Asian country will now play host to Huobi’s regional operations. This was reported by Bloomberg. According to the news company, Huobi will also work on establishing its offices in Europe within 24 months. Either France or the U.K. will be chosen. But analysts are confident that Huobi’s new Singapore office is a statement that it won’t return to China.
But in September, Huobi had also announced that it would disembark every Singaporean user by march 2022. In a statement on its Website on September 26, it said that it would gradually close the accounts of mainland China users by December 31.
Singapore is known for its regulated crypto environment that makes it possible for crypto companies to thrive. Although the local regulations allow local traders to explore cryptocurrencies, Huobi in order to meet up with the requirements of the Singapore Payment Services Act (PSA), had to delist Singaporean traders.
Regulations in Other Countries
China’s crypto ban threw the market into a panic. This showed how bans and regulations could potentially harm investors. Crypto communities around the world have called for considerations from governments that are working on regulating the industry.
As of writing, Huobi also restricts access to traders from the US, Canada, Crimea, Sudan, etc. from accessing their platform. In the US, there is no express ban on cryptos, but the US government has allowed the trading of crypto-based futures ETFs on the stock exchange. Going by that, hopefuls say that the US may allow crypto to exist.
Some analysts say that the biggest battle will be between cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). China, for example, is believed to have banned cryptos to pave the way for its CBDC, the Digital Yuan.
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