Huobi Global expanding into the US amidst booming crypto adoption

The cryptocurrency sector in the US has grown significantly, and exchanges are rushing to scoop a share of this giant market. Huobi, which was once the largest exchange in China, is planning to move its operations to the US.

Huobi was the largest exchange in China, but it was forced to shut down its operations after China banned crypto trading activities.

Huobi moving to the US

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In an interview with CNBC, the founder of Huobi, Du Jun, said that the exchange had made plans in 2018 to enter the US market. Du Jun said that at the time, Huobi did not have a “strong commitment with the time.” He also added that Huobi lacked a good management time in 2018 to head its US operations.

Du Jun noted that Huobi would enter the US market through a different business model, noting that the asset management sector would emerge to be a bigger market than the exchange one, which provided room for crypto firms to diversify their operations.

The executive added that the resources needed for such a move would mainly revolve around the staff. He also noted that the changing crypto framework globally had forced Huobi to shift into having a global focus.

The US is now one of the largest crypto economies. It has attracted some of the largest players in the market, such as Coinbase, Binance and FTX. The changing regulatory landscape is also attracting firms that want a share of the booming market.

BTC bulls will come in 2024

Du Jun also talked about the state of the cryptocurrency market regarding the price movement. He said a Bitcoin (BTC/USD) bull market will happen in late 2024 or early 2025. According to Du Jun, Bitcoin usually enters a bull market shortly after the halving event, when miner rewards are reduced by half.

The last halving event happened in 2020, and the price of Bitcoin peaked at $69,000 the following year. A similar occurrence happened in 2016. However, he also added that other factors such as war and Covid could also affect the market; hence it was hard to predict future performance.