Singapore’s Huobi is making the bold move of putting its organization on the blockchain

Huobi Chain project / Photo credit: Huobi

Crypto exchange company Huobi has unveiled a plan to put its entire organization on the blockchain, as it aims to be among the first “leaders” of decentralized financial infrastructures.

Gordon Chen, director of the company’s global ecosystem fund Huobi Eco, told Tech in Asia that the process will be done in phases over a projected 18-month period.

Called Huobi Chain, the project is yet to be built. The company has launched a program inviting developers from all over the world to participate in creating its new public blockchain.

Huobi will fund the program with an initial investment of 30 million Huobi tokens, equivalent to about US$170 million. The program consists of eight milestones, and teams will get a prize for hitting each one, said Chen.

Because the development process is open source, teams can come in at any stage.

Blockchain “brings a new world” where decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) will replace existing corporations, suggests Chen.

“We believe that in the future, DAOs will replace [traditional] organizations in some way or form. History will change with or without us, so we are leading this change,” he said.

In DAOs, decisions are made by the community, doing away with a hierarchical management. They usually rely on smart contracts or pre-programmed rules, such as setting aside a certain percentage of the company’s earnings for a task or a fund.

Huobi is currently the world’s third-largest crypto exchange by trading volume. It launched in 2013 and moved its operations from Beijing to Singapore last year. According to the group, it serves more than 5 million users in over 130 countries.

A gradual migration for a complicated concept

Explaining the need to create an entirely new platform, Chen said that none of the existing blockchain projects are able to meet Huobi’s needs, specifically when it comes to “security issues.”

The company will likely move its governance and fundraising arms onto the blockchain first, according to Chen. The centralized exchange will be shifted when the platform is “more ready,” he added.

The company will be governed by the community. It will recruit a board of directors, consisting of 10 of the “best” blockchain technical experts in the world. An election will be held to decide who will take on the top post.

On whether he sees any conflict arising from the move to replace Huobi founder Lin Li as CEO, Chen said Li has expressed interest in retiring and wants the business to run as a decentralized “state.”

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