In an interview with CNBC, Huobi co-founder Du Jun said that Huobi is planning a re-entry into the US market after its previous attempt between 2018 and 2019 failed.
Huobi is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in China and has been a victim of the cryptocurrency crackdown in China that forced it to shut down Chinese operations towards the end of last year resulting in a loss of about 30% of revenue.
Huobi has since been able to bounce back buoyed by its push to spread its operations across the world. It has set up operations in Asia with headquarter in Singapore. It is also looking at Europe with its eyes currently focused on the US.
Huobi had been in the US market back in 2018 before it exited the market in 2019 due to regulatory issues. It is now ready to jump back into the market though not necessary to offer cryptocurrency exchange services. It is looking at offering Asset management services instead.
During the interview, Du Jun said:
“2018 we tried to enter the US market but we quickly withdrew ourselves because we didn’t have a strong commitment with the market at that time and we didn’t have a good management team in the US when we did it the last time. Cryptocurrency is a large industry and exchange is only one part of this industry which was exposed the most. From mining machines to mining coin, from exchange to wallet including financial derivatives. There are many possibilities. I expect as a management to be a bigger business than exchange, which echoes the traditional finance market as well. In choosing our business model to enter the US, I don’t think exchange is a necessary element entering the US.”
The co-founder also said that the company would use its full strength to venture into the global market since the company has no chance other than to go global.
Jun said:
“As for how much resources, all staff will deploy for international market. We have no other choice but using our full strength to go forward in our global strategy. In the past, we would explore a new market and we can always withdraw ourselves if it doesn’t work out. Now Huobi has no other choice but to go global.”
The US is a promising but competitive market with the likes of Coinbase and Binance competing to win a stake in the large crypto market in the US amid the changing regulatory environment. Huobi believes a different strategy compared to its previous exchange strategy would be successful.
