FTX Founder Denies Acquisition of Crypto Exchange Huobi

News emerged on August 29 that crypto exchange FTX has officially acquired its competitor Huobi and will change its name to HTX. However, this rumor was denied by FTX’s founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Seychelles-based Huobi has previously been involved in a stake transfer rumor related to FTX earlier in August. According to a Bloomberg report, Leon Li, the founder of Huobi, is seeking to sell a 60% stake in the company that would value the business at $3 billion. The founder has held preliminary talks with Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain network, and FTX.

However, the report was denied by the platform, which claimed that “no plan has been made on the share transfer of major shareholders and Huobi continues to run healthily as always.” Sun also denied any involvement in the transaction.

Huobi used to be one of the most active Bitcoin trading platforms in the world. However, in recent years, it stopped providing services to Chinese users after Beijing significantly ramped up its regulation of crypto transactions last year. The company has since accelerated its expansion into overseas markets including Turkey and Brazil.

SEE ALSO: NFT Weekly: Huobi’s Big Move

On the other hand, FTX has made many high-profile acquisitions both before and during the recent market downturn, such as Japan-based Liquid Group and its subsidiaries in February, intended to expand its presence in the country, and the plan to purchase crypto exchange Bitvo in July, as part of its move into the Canadian market. However, in August, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued cease and desist letters to five companies, including FTX US, for allegedly making false representations about deposit insurance related to cryptocurrencies.