Huobi Exchange, one of the world’s largest trading platforms, is winding down its operations in mainland China, and the firm has published a timeline for the phased liquidations of all active traders on the platform. Responding to local regulations, the exchange said currency-based delivery contract, currency-based perpetual contract, and USDT standard perpetual contract for both the current and second quarter contracts will be delivered in advance with the latest timing set for today, October 29.
The exchange affirmed that all of its user’s funds are safe and will be completely remitted even if the process will take up to 1 or 2 years.
“In response to local government regulatory policy requirements, Huobi Global will complete an orderly liquidation and withdrawal under the premise of ensuring the safety of user assets in mainland China. Users can rest assured that your assets in Huobi Global will be 100% redeemed and withdrawn.”, earlier this month, Huobi noted in a community release.
The move marks a major blow to the Chinese crypto community as other exchanges are also making their moves to halt their activities for fears of regulatory sanctions.
Huobi Exit from China: DeFi to the Rescue?
Just like Huobi, centralized exchanges are becoming an unattractive avenue to gain access to the digital currency ecosystem, leaving the crypto-savvy populace in mainland China with fewer options. However, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are on the rise, and these emerging protocols give a more yielded way to transact digital currencies in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) manner.
With the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) advising all financial institutions not to facilitate transactions involving digital currencies, DEXs are the viable option to get off the radar of the authorities as funds are kept in unhosted wallets like Trust Wallets which use the complete control of their funds.
DeFi protocols are notably drawing attractions around the world with the Financial Action Task (FATF) revising its latest guidelines to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) to include provisions for decentralized finance. With this latest development, DApps and DeFi based products may come under broader FATF rules in which Chinese institutions may still exert their oversight over these platforms to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing tendencies.
