TL;DR Breakdown
- Huobi Exchange to move headquarters to Singapore.
- Exchange previously announced it will halt services in Singapore.
- When Gibraltar was in the pictue for Huobi.
Top crypto exchange firm Huobi Exchange is said to be making plans to move its Asian headquarters to Singapore.
This is despite series of regulatory issues to face in the Asian country. According to Bloomberg, Huobi exchange intends to go to Singapore because of the exchange’s co-founder, Du Jun.
Huobi has to seek a new headquarters in Singapore owing to the continued crackdown on crypto firms in China, where its regional base in Asia is previously located. Before now, Huobi maintained a physical presence in Singapore, but the decision now is to move all basis of operations to the city-state.
Huobi exchange to plant another exchange in Europe
While speaking with Bloomberg, co-founder Du Jun explained that Huobi is also seeking to establish another headquarters in Europe. He said the exchange could be in France or the UK, locations where Binance exchange is also looking at establishing its own headquarters.
Picking Singapore as regional HQ is somewhat of a surprising move from Huobi, given the recent regulatory hurdles. Weeks back, the exchange announced that it would stop servicing users based in Singapore as of March 31st, 2022.
The exchange said it will stop providing cryptocurrency services to clients in Singapore to comply with the laws of the city-state, which classifies as a “restricted jurisdiction” for the company.
Gibraltar in the picture
After announcing it would halt services in Singapore owing to regulatory issues, Du Jun hinted that the firm was moving to Gibraltar.
He said then that the global digital asset industry is heading “towards compliant growth,” and his company should not fall behind that trend. Migrating some of the services to Gibraltar is a “key milestone” as crypto-related businesses can flourish in that country.
“Gibraltar, as a highly experienced, sophisticated, and globally recognized international financial services center, fits our needs well,” he said.
Now, moving its headquarters to Singapore is somewhat a mystery.
