Huobi Global founder Leon Li is planning to sell a majority stake in the company in a transaction that would cost the firm $3 billion, according to a Bloomberg report published on Friday. Huobi is based in Seychelles and is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. The data from CoinGecko reveals the exchange has a daily trading volume of over $1 billion. The crypto exchange founder wants to sell 60% of the firm.
The report further stated that Li has had preliminary talks with FTX owner Sam Bankman-Fried and founder of the Tron blockchain network, Justin Sun. But Sun has denied any involvement via a tweet.
We have not engaged any matters related to the Bloomberg story at this moment.
— H.E. Justin Sun
The deal will be among the biggest in the crypto industry. Due to the recent crypto winter, many firms were forced to perform layoffs and cut costs. So this will be one of the first instances where the firm is selling a majority stake.
The report also mentioned that in a shareholder meeting held last month, ZhenFund and Sequoia China, the existing investors of Huobi, were informed about Li’s decision to sell the company. According to the report, a deal could be finalized by this month’s end. The stake sale can reach to $1 billion since Li seeks an overall valuation of $2 billion to $3 billion.
During the recent market crash, FTX has made a series of offers to acquire crypto firms. In April, it got its hand on a Japanese exchange called Liquid. Two months later, the FTX CEO acquired Bitvo, a Canadian trading platform. The exchange is also in talks with BlockFi to purchase the lending platform for $240 million.
Celsius Network and Voyager Digital, the firms who declared bankruptcy in the recent crypto crash, are also on FTX’s target buying list. Shortly after the release of the Bloomberg report, the native token of Huobi, HT reached $5.43, increasing by approx. 25%. It also hit a high of $5.80.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/08/13/crypto-tycoons-sbf-and-sun-are-in-talks-to-buy-huobis-major-stake/