China’s once-popular crypto exchange Huobi Global acquired by About Capital • TechCrunch

Huobi Global, once China’s premier crypto exchange, has retooled itself since exiting its domestic market following Beijing’s crypto ban. Now the company is approaching a takeover by a securities firm.

Huobi Global announced today that its controlling shareholder has completed the transaction to sell its entire stake to About Capital, a Hong Kong-based fund management firm started by Ted Chen, who founded China’s hedge fund giant Greenwoods Asset Management. This confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg that said founder Leon Li was looking to sell his majority stake for over $1 billion, valuing the stock at $3 billion.

Founded in 2013, Huobi Global drove China’s crypto boom before Beijing declared all crypto transactions illegal in 2021. Parent company Huobi Group now operates an umbrella of crypto-related entities, including flagship exchange Huobi Global, venture capital arm Huobi Ventures and a crypto cloud service.

Huobi Global and rival Binance said they have stopped serving China-based clients since the ban. While Binance began global expansion well before the crackdown, Huobi Global appears to have been hit hard by the regulatory change as a large portion of its users were still in China. The trading platform reportedly laid off 30% of its workforce this summer after the pullout from China dragged down revenue.

Om Capital’s acquisition will not affect Huobi’s “core operations and business management team,” the announcement said. The exact amount of the deal was not disclosed, but it appears that the new parent is providing the much-needed capital to help the exchange resolve its financial problems and go global in the midst of a crypto rout.

According to About Capital, Huobi Global will “embrace a series of new international brand promotion and business expansion initiatives, including a global strategic advisory board led by leading industry figures, the injection of sufficient capital into margin and risk provision funds, as well as measures to further strengthen competitiveness.”

“After Huobi’s exit from the Chinese mainland market in 2021, we have accelerated our globalization push amid a challenging market environment, which contributes to Huobi seeking a new share structure with a global vision and international resources,” Li said in a statement. “We believe the successful acquisition of the About Capital vehicle will contribute to Huobi’s global expansion in both aspects.”