Huobi, the China-based cryptocurrency company, is planning to re-enter the United States, co-founder Du Jun, told CNBC.
The decision comes after it ceased operations in 2019 to comply with regulations. At the time, Huobi said it would freeze all U.S. accounts in November.
The company said that the American regulatory environment for crypto had forced it to prohibit American users.
With the experience of stronger crypto regulation in China, Huobi has the drive to expand into other parts of Asia, Europe and the U.S., Du told the network.
“In 2018, we tried to enter the U.S. market,” Du said, according to CNBC. “But we quickly withdrew ourselves because we didn’t have a strong commitment to the market at that time and we didn’t have a good management team in the U.S.”
He added that asset management is expeceted to be a bigger portion of the business than the exchange, which he said is not a necessary element for entering the U.S.
If Huobi returns to the U.S. market, it is expected to compete with companies like Coinbase, the online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing cryptocurrency.
Huobi is among the Top 10 biggest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, according to CoinGecko, one of the largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregators.
Launched as a cryptocurrency exchange business in the U.S. in 2018, Huobi froze U.S. accounts a year later and said it would return in a more integrated and impactful fashion.
At the close of last year, Huobi closed existing mainland Chinese users’ accounts and selected Singapore for its Asia headquarters. Huobi has lost about 30% of its revenue from shutting in China, Du told the network.
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