Huobi Global, a digital currency exchange, has announced that it has purchased Bitex. Bitex Crypto exchange platform is active in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. According to Huobi, they are exploring Latin America because of its potential for crypto operations. Huobi believes that Latin America will have the highest rate of activity around the adoption of cryptos. However, details of the acquisition have not been made public.
Bitex exchange launch took place in 2014. Although Huobi will become its parent business, the Bitex trading platform will maintain its branding. Moreover, it will continue to operate under its current management. Residents in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile can use the digital currency services provided by Bitex.
The global head of mergers and acquisitions at Huobi Group, Jeffrey Ma, made a statement. He said that the firm has been bullish on its prospects for the region ever since it first entered the Latin American market.
Huobi Group has enjoyed amazing growth in Latin America since it first entered the market.
Jeffrey Ma
He further noted that Bitex’s acquisition is strategic as they enter the Latin American market. Through the relationship, Huobi will be able to offer security, liquidity, and stability to a more significant number of users.
Bitex to maintain management and branding
Huobi will be able to link its network with the Bitex system. Yet, Bitex will maintain its personnel and logo. Due to the integration, all Bitex users will access the digital coins available on the Huobi Global platform.
Huobi has harbored an interest in penetrating Latin America. The launch of Huobi Argentina in 2019 marked the entry point. The acquisition of Bitex is an elaborate and well-laid plan to achieve Huobi’s ambitions. Latin America is embracing crypto very well. Huobi’s statistics show that from 2019 to 2021, there was a 1,370 percent increase in the use of cryptos.
Today, Huobi Global is the fourth largest exchange by crypto transaction volume. Yet, in terms of crypto reserves, Huobi is the third-largest exchange with $11.7 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Francisco Buero, the CEO of Bitex, thinks that Huobi will benefit the company’s ambitions to expand.
Bitex was founded in the wake of the financial crisis in Latin America. The goal was to protect our clients’ purchasing power. We believe that our partnership with Huobi Global is critical. It will support our expansion and help us serve our clients better. The move enables them to access a wider range of digital assets on Huobi Global’s platform.
Francisco Buero
Buero explained that the partnership would complement the eight years of success by Bitex.
The scramble for the Latin American market
Huobi is not the only platform yearning to take over the Latin American market. Other platforms are also making entries with strategies to have a share of the cake. Tether launched its MXNT token on Thursday, tied to the Mexican peso. The MXNT is adding to a list of Tether Stablecoins, yet it targets the Mexican market.
According to Tether, the Ethereum, Tron, and Polyong blockchains will support the coin. Mexican firms are keen on blockchain and crypto. According to a recent analysis, Mexico is coming up as a perfect crypto powerhouse. Tether’s Chief Technology Officer says that it has seen increased crypto use in Latin America over the past year. Generally, there will be a lot of competition between virtual currency and Fiat money. Tether is exploiting a unique opportunity in Mexico. Issues of remittance transfer are grave yet more people want to send money home.
Mexico receives up to $51.6 billion from citizens living outside the country. Thus, making it the 3rd largest transfer recipient in the world behind China and India.
Tether isn’t the only company to take notice of the Mexican remittance phenomenon. Coinbase, Bitso, and Circle have all taken notice as well. Coinbase created a cash-out service earlier this year. The product helps convert local pesos into bitcoin at over 37,000 physical stores and retail outlets around the country.
Circle and Bitso collaborated in November to launch an international wire transfer product. The product allows small people to change their dollars into stablecoins and send them to Mexico as pesos. Later, in conjunction with Tribal, Bitso also made it possible for small and midsized businesses to convert Mexican pesos to Stellar USDC via its cross-border B2B payment option.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/huobi-acquires-bitex/