Huobi confirms lay-offs amid rampant FUD over operational stability

Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun plans to lay off roughly 20% of Huobi’s staff, Reuters reported on Jan. 6.

According to the report, the exchange is planning a “structural adjustment” expected to be completed within the first quarter. An internal memo from Sun described the move as a “short-term pain” that could bring more advantages to the exchange in the long run.

Justin Sun previously denied rumors of impending layoffs at the exchange, saying they were false.

FUD grows around Huobi

WuBlockchain first reported that Huobi changed its medium for paying wages from fiat to USDC and USDT stablecoins. The report added that the exchange plans to dismiss employees who disagree with the new policy, leading to workers’ protests.

Other reports on Twitter also suggested internal strife at the company. Cryptadamus alleged that the exchange had shut all internal messaging channels between employees to quell the protest.

There are also concerns that the employees’ discontent could lead to problems for Huobi as they might develop a backdoor to rug pull assets. BitRun advised those with assets on the platform to withdraw them and those without assets to uninstall the app to avoid exploits.

Meanwhile, Justin Sun, Huobi’s adviser, has withdrawn $1.5 billion in stablecoins since October 2022.

Sun maintains positivity

In a Jan. 5 Twitter thread, Justin Sun said Huobi’s business development and core indicators maintained high-speed growth the previous year. He added that:

“The average daily growth rate of the number of new registered users and capital inflows exceeds the peak in 2022.”

Sun addressed security concerns about the exchange. He said:

“[Huobi’s] core business data and technical architecture do not rely on any centralized manpower. Maintain 100% availability and the best security record in the industry with no security incidents for ten years, and the security of users’ assets will always be fully protected.”

Sun also reiterated the exchange’s robust security system in a separate Jan. 6 Twitter thread

Sun-related tokens tank

Meanwhile, the recent speculations about Huobi have impacted the price performance of its native token. According to CryptoSlate’s data, HT crashed by roughly 6% in the last 24 hours to $4.509 as of press time. Nomics data also shows that the exchange trading volume dropped by 20% during this period.

Besides that, TRX decreased 8% to $0.05068. Other digital assets related to Justin Sun, like BitTorrent, Sun, and Just, are also down by an average of 3%.

Also, Tron’s decentralized stablecoin USDD has lost its dollar peg again and is trading for $0.978 as of press time.