China’s Largest Crypto Exchange Chooses Singapore As Asian Base

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(Bloomberg) – Huobi Group, the operator of China’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has chosen Singapore as its regional headquarters while choosing to have another location in Europe, co-founder Du Jun said.

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Singapore is becoming the company’s new base after recently shifting its focus away from its original home in Beijing, Du said in response to questions from Bloomberg News. He’s been based in the city-state since returning to Huobi late last year. The company plans to set up another regional headquarters in France or the UK in 2023, he said.

While Huobi has employees who have run an exchange business from Singapore for years, the establishment of an official headquarters in the city-state signals a further break with his home country, which in September banned all mainland crypto transactions and services. Huobi, founded in China in 2013, announced that it would offload all Chinese users by the end of this year.

Southeast Asia is an attractive market where the number of business users has quadrupled over the past month, Du said.

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Huobi International Pte., Incorporated in Singapore in August, counts Li Lin, the other founder of the Chinese company, as the majority shareholder, according to a filing with the Singapore Accounting and Business Regulatory Authority. The other two shareholders are Atlas Value Ltd. and Zhen Partners Fund I, LP, according to the filing.

“Singapore has positioned itself as a leader in cryptocurrency adoption and has attracted crypto and fintech companies,” said Ulisse Dellorto, Asia-Pacific chief executive of research firm Chainalysis.

Huobi Technology Holdings Ltd., an affiliate listed in Hong Kong, has also established another company known as Huobi Singapore, which is applying for a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Crypto.com, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, this year moved its headquarters to the city-state of Hong Kong.

The story continues

(Updates with analyst commentary in sixth paragraph.)

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