Huobi Initiates Removal of Tens of Millions of Chinese Users, Internal Structure Greatly Adjusted

On Tuesday, bitcoin trading platform Huobi issued a notice of removal on its official website. On December 14 and 15, the company will stop the currency filling and currency trading business of Chinese mainland users. Huobi will then close OTC business involving Chinese yuan on December 31, at which time Huobi Global’s China business will be completely closed.

In 2020, Huobi disclosed that it had 15 million users. Considering the high proportion of Chinese users, the scale of this removal is at least millions in magnitude, which is extremely rare in the encryption industry and even in commercial history.

Huobi adopted the strategy of a thorough and resolute removal, leaving almost no room, and internally emphasized that “no one can stop the removal.” A notable feature is that even if users use overseas companies to register, but the main registration or ultimate beneficiary is in the Chinese mainland, it still will not be accepted.

Huobi’s complete removal from China has a significant relationship with its founder Li Lin’s presence in the country. On October 6, Li said that he didn’t want to go abroad, as his family and children were in China, and they didn’t want to go abroad. “After a few months in Shanxi, I realized that only my family can’t live without us,” Li Lin said. “Without Huobi, there will be Binance and ok. If you are disappointed, I am sorry.”

Huobi’s optimistic model is similar to Bybit’s, which will completely remove users in Chinese mainland and make every effort to move to overseas markets. However, the difference is that Bybit started its business overseas at the beginning, developed slightly at home in the middle, but then stopped its domestic development. Huobi, on the other hand, was absolutely the first in the Chinese region – now it must completely remove tens of millions of users, then move overseas as a startup.

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin Trading Platform Huobi Global to Cease Registration of New China-Based Users

At the same time, the senior personnel of Huobi are undergoing drastic changes. After Li Lin and COO Zhu Jiawei returned from Shanxi, Zhu Jiawei gradually retired from management, and the personnel of relevant factions also left one after another. Some employees joined Bybit whose development is all-rounded, and some employees chose to start their own business. Qi Ye, the former CEO of Huobi Global, was suspected to have left, Cao Fei, the head of Huobi Mine Pool, left the job, and Ciara, the head of Huobi Asset Center, also announced his resignation on December 13. The executive structure chart it disclosed in 2020 has already changed dramatically.

At present, Huobi mainly focuses on Southeast Asia, Turkey, Russia, Africa and other emerging markets overseas, and has accumulated millions of users.