On Friday, June 8th Financial Magnates reported that Huobi (the world’s third-largest crypto exchange by trade volume) has created a brand new digital currency trading marketplace in the US.
As it competes with leading rival crypto exchanges Binance and OKEx, Huobi has been vigorously diversifying its investment products and services while also now announcing the launch of its new public blockchain just two days ago.
Earlier this month, Huobi commenced a crypto-based exchange traded fund (ETF), a type of mutual fund that splits ownership of primary digital assets into shares. The ETF is based on its recently launched market index, which tracks the exchange’s 10 top-traded digital assets against Tether (USDT).
On June 2nd, they entered into a partnership to launch a $93m China-South Korea investment fund for blockchain startups, aiming to foster collaboration between the two countries.
The new US platform comes via a recently created San Francisco-based company called HBUS, which, as mentioned in a Medium post earlier this week, is not an “arm,” “subsidiary,” “division,” or any type of “affiliate” of Huobi. HBUS is, in fact, the “exclusive US strategic partner”.
Huobi, originally founded in China, is actually headquartered in Singapore. The exchange has been enthusiastically targeting overseas markets, with a South Korean subsidiary already launched as well as the announcement of London plans. They first revealed the plans to open an office in San Francisco in January this year.
The high demands on crypto exchanges after the US launch will bring them under the purview of regulators. But an HBUS post this week has already cleared the air by stressing that all its employees have been “educated” in Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (KYC), and have been “required to pass tests” on the subjects.
There was also an offer as found on the HBUS’ Medium post, dated June 5, wherein all users who sign up between June 10 and June 14 will be awarded a month of trading without fees.
HBUS’ website suggests that “overwhelming demand” may postpone the launch. Although, the actual launch of the official trading is reportedly set for June 15.