Leon Li, co-founder of Huobi, has agreed to sell his entire stake in the crypto exchange and fully step down from the business.
Over the weekend, Huobi Global released a statement saying that its controlling shareholder and co-founder Leon Li had reached an agreement to sell his entire shareholding to an M&A fund of Hong Kong-based asset manager About Capital.
«The transaction only involves the change of controlling shareholder and has no impact on Huobi’s core operation and business management teams,» the statement said.
Separately, Li said on social media that he would no longer be involved in any aspect of the business.
Post-Transaction Plans
According to About Capital, Huobi Global post-transaction will see brand promotion and business expansion including the formation of a global strategic advisory board with top industry figures, capital injection in margin and risk provision fund and other measures.
It made good on its first initiative by announcing an invitation today to Yuchen Sun, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO, to serve as the first member of its global advisory board.
Ex-China Expansion
Amid intensifying regulatory crackdowns in China, Huobi left the mainland in 2021 and instead focused on expansion abroad in markets such as Turkey and Brazil.
«Following Huobi’s exit from the Chinese mainland market in 2021, we have accelerated our globalization push amidst a challenging market environment, which adds to the impetus for Huobi to seek a new shareholding structure with a global vision and international resources,» Li said.
Huobi was co-founded in 2013 by Li, a former Oracle computer engineer, and would go on to become the world’s most active Bitcoin exchange by offering a zero-fee transaction model.
