Huobi Group intends to return to the Japanese market with the help of the forthcoming deal to acquire the local licensed crypto exchange - BitTrade.
Today, Huobi reported that its subsidiary Huobi Japan Holding Ltd has signed an agreement with Eric Cheng, the sole owner of BitTrade, to acquire a controlling stake in the firm.
Currently, BitTrade is one of the 16 licensed exchanges in Japan, as well as a member of the Japan Association of Crypt Exchange. Huobi refused to disclose the amount of the transaction and its exact share in BitTrade.
The previous announcement shows that as early as June, Cheng for $ 50 million bought a 100% stake in the licensed trading company FX Trade Financial, whose affiliate was BitTrade.
Chief financial officer Huobi Chris Lee (Chris Lee), commented on the deal:
"Thanks to the BitTrade team and the approval of the Japanese government, we will turn the exchange into the main player on the Japanese crypto-currency market."
At the beginning of the year, Huobi Pro and SBI Virtual Currency, the licensed exchange unit of SBI Holdings, entered into an agreement according to which they planned to open a joint stock exchange in Japan, but in March SBI Virtual Currency severed partnerships.
It is assumed that for this reason Huobi Pro left the Japanese market in June this year, as it could not obtain a license from the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA).
In August, it became known that the Huobi exchange is seeking to enter the Hong Kong stock exchange through the takeover of Pantronics. In the event of a transaction, Huobi will have the opportunity to take over the management of the company and thus enter the secondary financial market as part of a process known as reverse takeover.
In addition, in the same month, information appeared that Binance, Okex, Huobi and Upbit were investing in the new Terra. And in September, the Huobi Group and the training center in Singapore announced that they would open training courses on blockchain.