Huobi rebrands following About Capital Buyout’s takeover

Huobi, a former ‘big three’ platform in China, says this brand upgrade unveils its global expansion roadmap following the takeover by About Capital Buyout Fund last month. Following the transition of ownership, the exchange said it will embrace a series of new international brand promotion and business expansion initiatives. This includes a global strategic advisory board alongside an injection of capital for a margin and risk provision fund.

Per of its rebranding process, Huobi removed the character for “coin” from its Chinese name and crafted its new mission as “Enhancing Asset Safety, Promoting Financial Inclusion”. The nine-year-old cryptocurrency has replaced the Chinese character “coin” in its name with a character that means “must”.

“The new name consists of two Chinese characters“火” and “必”. The first one represents perpetual vitality and the passing of the same vitality on to future generations in Chinese culture. The second one means the determination to win, which represents our ambition to return to the top 3 exchanges of the industry. The symbolism behind the two Chinese characters means the new Huobi will serve from its heart in providing professional virtual asset management services to global users,” the statement reads.

Huobi was acquired in October by About Capital, a Hong Kong-based fund management firm started by Ted Chen, who founded China’s hedge fund giant Greenwoods Asset Management. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that the founder Leon Li was looking to sell his majority stake for over $1 billion, valuing the exchange at $3 billion.

Huobi has been making inroads into new regions as it anticipates a 30% revenue plunge after it has completely shut down its trading for mainland investors. The Seychelles-based crypto exchange also suspended Bitcoin mining services and sales of mining equipment in China. Additionally, Huobi moved its spot-trading business to Gibraltar.

To offset its exit out of China, Huobi bolstered its expansion in Latin America with the acquisition of local crypto exchange Bitex. The deal, whose financial terms were not shared, allows Huobi to expand into Latin America where Bitex has an extensive network, namely Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The premier crypto platform said the takeover strengthens its breadth and depth as the company moves to capture the potential of digital assets across a region with more than 660 million people.