One of the world’s top crypto exchanges is shutting accounts in Singapore, weeks after it exited China market

November 11, 2021 iGaming & Gambling

On Tuesday evening, Huobi—the world’s sixth-largest crypto exchange by volume, according to CoinMarketCap—announced that “to comply with the laws of Singapore, we will have to include Singapore as a restricted jurisdiction. Regrettably, this means [we] can no longer offer services to Singapore-based users,” it said on its website.

The platform will close all the accounts of its Singapore users by March 31 of next year, and access to Huobi services will be “gradually phased out” starting on that date. Singapore-based users should take “immediate action” to close their active positions and withdraw all digital assets before then, Huobi said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what triggered Huobi’s pullout from Singapore. But the company said late Wednesday that winding down services in Singapore was “planned” so it could set up Huobi Singapore—a new, regulated entity expected to launch by year-end.