Gabriel Budi Sutrisno · · 1 min readMalaysia orders Huobi to stop operations due to compliance concerns
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The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has ordered Huobi to disable its website and mobile app in the country, deeming the global crypto firm’s operations “illegal.”
The regulator issued a public reprimand against Huobi and its CEO Leon Li on Monday, saying that the digital asset exchange is operating without local registration.
Huobi must also stop “circulating, publishing, or sending any advertisements, whether in email or on social media platforms, to Malaysian investors.”
Local users are urged to cease trading through the platform, withdraw all their investments, and close their accounts.
Li founded Huobi in 2013. The company has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and the UK, according to Crunchbase.
In September 2021, Huobi announced that it would leave mainland China following a government ban. In July 2022, it was set to halt operations in Thailand after its license was revoked by the regulator.
Earlier this year, the company planned to lay off 20% of its employees as part of a restructuring process. At the same time, it set a target to reach 100 million users by the end of 2023.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Eileen C. Ang
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
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