Huobi Global to shut down services in Singapore following China exit
One of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volumes, the Huobi Global, is set to wind down operations in Singapore soon after its China exit.
As per the latest official announcement on November 9, Huobi is finally shutting down accounts of its Singapore-based clients by the end of March 2022.
Huobi has notified its users and clients based in Singapore to close down their active positions and withdraw their respective digital assets before March 31, 2022. The exchange would also gradually halt access to Singaporean Huobi services before March, the announcement stated.
The recent move by the global crypto exchange is part of a compliance effort with relevant regulations and local financial authorities, the firm added.
According to the latest Huobi’s user agreement, the firm’s services are now prohibited for users located in the United States, Japan, Canada, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Crimea, the United Kingdom, Mainland China and Kyrgyzstan, alongside Singapore.
The agreement further reads that the company has all rights to “suspend or terminate your account or use of the service” and the processing of any digital asset transaction at any stage, if it finds out in its sole discretion that the particular user has violated the agreement or the provision or if it finds out that the user’s usage of the service in the respective jurisdiction is unlawful.
Singapore is one of those countries that is currently emerging as a major global crypto hub as local regulators are issuing multiple licenses for the legalization of cryptocurrency trading in the country.
According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Managing Director, Ravi Menon, the Singaporean authority is putting “very strong regulation” for strengthening the country’s position as the global crypto centre.
Other than Singapore, various other global regulators have also notedly flagged Huobi’s operations. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand had temporarily shut down Huobi’s local subsidiary, recommending to revoke its operating license with the Ministry of Finance.
The news surfaced shortly after Huobi was forced to exit from China with the local authorities major crypto ban diktat in late September. Consequently, Huobi has announced plans of closing down all Chinese accounts in Mainland China by this year, December 31.
Established in China in the year 2013, Huobi is, in reality, notably tied with the country. Before the ban was imposed, its Chinese operations were recorded to make up at least 30 per cent of its total trading volumes and revenues.
