Established in 2013, Huobi Global is a world-leading exchange and financial services provider for digital assets. Headquartered in Singapore and with offices in the United States, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and London their user base extends to over 130 countries and currently manages 1 billion USD in assets. Sheltered under the umbrella of Huobi Group, Huobi Global is also devoted to exploring investment opportunities and provides trade and investment services to over 100 digital assets. Huobi has raised capital from investors including Dai Zhikang, Sequoia Capital, and Zhen Fund. In December 2017, the exchange surpassed USD 850,000 million in total transaction volume.

Huobi Global Analysis:

Introduction:

Globally revered American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones once said “The secret to being successful from a trading perspective is to have an indefatigable, an undying and unquenchable thirst for information and knowledge”. With regard to the trailblazing, and at times nefarious melting pot of distributed ledger technology that has birthed over 1565 coins, there could be no better advice to apply when trading relatively volatile assets like Bitcoin that tech investor Tim Draper predicts will reach $250,000 by 2022.

However, when it comes to an unregulated industry filled with speculation and self-proclaimed thought leaders, how can we truly know whether the advertised strategies and information are worth their weight in digital gold? Understanding, analyzing and being continually informed as per the dynamics and advantages of more prominent exchanges, like Huobi Global, which form the primordial backbone of cryptocurrency industry could be one of the best places to start.

Established in 2013, Huobi Group is a world-leading cryptocurrency exchange and financial services provider. Noticing a golden opportunity for the future of distributed ledger technology and digital assets, the founding team rapidly establishing huobi.com with a mission to make the financial industry more efficient, and equalize the distribution of wealth for people across the world. As referenced on their website; the Huobi Global team is dedicated to providing safe, professional, trustworthy, and world-class services to its clients to create a client first culture. With offices in offices in Singapore, the United States, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, their user base extends to over 130 countries. Sheltered under the umbrella of Huobi Group, Huobi Global is also devoted to exploring investment opportunities and currently provides trade and investment services to over 100 digital assets.

Huobi Strengths / Opportunities:

The embodiment of a premier global exchange:

The team of Huobi Global tirelessly strives to empower millions of its users across over 130 countries and currently trades over $1 billion in assets. The exchange provides a 24/7/365 customer support line and is designed for accredited, knowledgable crypto-investors. As mentioned previously, Huobi Global also provides local trading service centres throughout the world. Further elaborating on these advantages Huobi Global also provides localized cryptocurrency asset evaluations and trading services, an experienced business development and management team, and multiple OTC trading services for Fiat to Cryptocurrency transactions.

Sophisticated Security System that ensures stability and safety for digital assets:

The team of Huobi Global values the security of assets and user accounts. Because of this, they’ve integrated top security and risk control from Goldman Sachs. The collective team also maintains five years experience in cryptocurrency asset management. Huobi Global also provides a combination of independent, neutral, and professional evaluation methodologies for digital assets and uses a decentralized structure and anti-DDOS protection system. More than 98% of Huobi Global’s digital assets are stored in multi-signature, cold wallets. Security protocols are also fully aligned and compliant with industry best practices. With 4 years of safe, stable infrastructure operations, Huobi Global puts their clients and customer experience first.

Huobi Global’s SMART-Chain Evaluation Model:

Huobi Global’s SMART-Chain evaluation provides a secure and streamlined analysis for the entire blockchain asset ecosystem. This model also ensures strategic insights based on research, trends, and up to over fifty unique indicators to properly evaluate investment potential and risks associated. The company defines this resource as their “one-stop source for in-depth, comprehensive information on over 190 cryptocurrencies.”

Huobi Weaknesses/ Threats:

Awareness in overseas markets:

Compared to competitive exchanges such as Binance, HitBTC, and Bitfinex - Huobi Global is still developing their overseas marketing and presence outside of China. Although with offices in London, the United States, Australia, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong - Huobi Global is rapidly positioning itself for market dominance. Considering their support and investment from globally revered Chinese funds, a majority of content is still predicated to serve Chinese traders and technologists, however this is also rapidly changing with their global expansion.

Huobi Team, Advisorsm Partners, and Investors

• Leon Li 李林: CEO and Founder of Huobi: Leon Li (Chinese 李林) is the founder and CEO of Huobi Global. He graduated from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University and started his career at Oracle before becoming venturing out as an entrepreneur in 2009. Leon previously started numerous internet companies and projects related to SNS and vertical search, including Renrenzhe, which is China’s second-largest independent lifestyle search site.
• Dai Zhikang: Dai is one of the most sophisticated business operators in China. The 47-year-old property entrepreneur, developer, and investor maintains a net worth of $1.2bn. Established in 1992, Shanghai Zendai Group is a private enterprise specializing in finance, investment, real-estate development and cultural industry. Since its conception, the firm has been committed to its core value “Zheng Ming (Experimentalism), Shi-Zheng (Positivism), and Qin Zheng (Realization)”, and a mission of seeking “Da Dao (Perfect Order), Da Tong (Great Harmony), Da Mei (Grand Beauty), and Da Wo (Greater Self)”.
• Sequoia Capital: Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. Located in Menlo Park, California, the firm mainly focuses on the technology industry. It has backed companies that now control $1.4 trillion of the combined stock market value.
• Zhen Fund: ZhenFund (Chinese: 真格基金) is a seed stage focused venture fund founded in 2011 by Bob Xu and Victor Wang, in collaboration with Sequoia Capital China. Bob and Victor previously co-founded New Oriental (NYSE: EDU), one of the world’s largest education conglomerates. In 2016, Bob was honored on the Midas List as one of the top 100 tech investors. ZhenFund currently dominates China’s early-stage venture capital scene and is rapidly expanding its U.S. practice based in Palo Alto, CA.
• HUOBI US STRATEGIC PARTNER (HBUS): On the 21 March 2018 HBUS registered with the U.S. government Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a money services business. Located in San Francisco, HBUS will serve as a partner to help Huobi’s expansion into the U.S market.

Huobi HT Token:

HT essentially works as a point system powered on blockchain distribution and management. It operates natively on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC 20. Traders can use HT tokens in a number of ways, the most basic use of which is to achieve up to 50% discount on trading fees.

Interestingly Huobi Token (HT) was not supported or involved in an initial coin offering (ICO). Traders can only acquire HT tokens throuhg the ‘Point Cards’ system on Huobi Pro which is essentially a pre-paid card for basic service charge-trading fees. 1 point = 1 USDT. If traders purchase a 1,000 Point Card package, it will cost approximately USDT 990, and they will recieve 1,000 HT tokens for free as a result.

Huobi Global will only distirbute and limit HT to a fixed total of 500-million. Out of this 500 million, only 300 million will ever be released as gifts for purchasing Point Cards.

Each quarter, Huobi Pro will use 20% of its income to buyback the Huobi Tokens in the open market. All the HT that was repurchased will be allocated to Huobi Investor Protection Fund (HIPF) in a certain proportion. The HIPF is used to protect investors’ benefits and compensate for the losses by Huobi users when risks occur in the platform, to ensure market stability and to protect the interests of investors.

1. Transaction Fee Discount: By purchasing different levels of VIP statuses using HTs, users can save up to 50% in transaction fees.

• Liquidity Protection: Each season, Huobi Pro will buy HTs on the open market to ensure sufficient liquidity and protect user interests with 20% of Huobi Pro’s transaction fees earned during that season. HTs bought by Huobi Pro will be held in the Huobi User Protection Fund, and will be used to protect users’ interests and compensate for their losses in cases of emergency.
• Exclusive benefits for HT Holders: HT holders will be able to enjoy unique benefits such as occsionally receiving a percentage of newly listed tokens.
• Trading Pairs: HT can be traded against USDT, BTC, and ETH.
• Community Power: An additional feature is that HT holders will also have the exclusive opportunity to provide suggestions and increase engagement to Huobi Pro through aspects such as surveys to inform listing decisions and evaluate potential assets.

Huobi Australia:

Huobi Group has since launched their subsidiary digital asset exchange in Australia in partnership with Crypto industry leader Blockchain Global to offer the best-in-class digital asset services to Australian investors. Based in Melbourne, the benefits of Huobi Australia include a robust system architecture with world-leading security technology and standards, registered with the government body AUSTRAC, trading pairs with strong liquidity and tight spreads, stable and attractive API for institutional investors and traders, 24/7 live chat and customer support, efficient payment processing, and fast KYC processing. Ten pairs will initially be on offer for the Australian dollar, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Cash

Huobi HADAX:

HADAX is the world’s first autonomous token listing exchange. On HADAX Users can vote using HT tokens. Tokens with top votes then have the chance to be listed on Huobi Global Trading Exchange. Also prominent to note is that teams can fill out the applications and apply autonomously. Ultimately HADAX offers opportunities for digital asset start-ups to gain support and further their global awareness.

Huobi OTC:

On November 4, 2017, Huobi.Pro launched its OTC (Over the Counter) Platform. Huobi OTC essentially works as a bridge between fiat and digital assets, while Huobi Pro is a digital asset trading exchange. Working as an affiliate component of Huobi Global, on the OTC users can buy/sell digital assets by posting a buy/sell advertisement to find the corresponding buyers or sellers. Huobi OTC offers an aggregated display of transaction information. The final payment is transferred and completed offline. (Huobi’s OTC provides escrow on digital assets)

Huobi Blockchain Capital:

Huobi Labs blockchain incubator, dedicated to serving early-stage start-ups of blockchain industry, and headquartered in San Francisco, the United States of America. In May 2018, Huobi Labs launched a US$1 billion blockchain fund to bolster domestic business. Huobi’s Research institution also focuses on technological research, industry analyses, application innovations, trend analyses and business consulting in the field of Blockchain

Huobi Conclusion:

Despite all these impressive and sophisticated components, there’s one aspect of Huobi Global continually underrated and undervalued. This is what revered American business executive, conference speaker, and author Jay Abraham sites as a “strategy of preeminence” According to Abraham “preeminence extols, advocates, champions the role of the team member, supplier, prospect or customer. Its focus is on the receiver and their best interest. It boils down to; I’m not trying to sell you - I want to serve you. Preeminence is a multi-faceted approach like an integrated fabric. It’s a strategic mindset. You get preeminence by subordinating your needs and focusing on the “other side” - the side of the client or the customer. There are three groups of people you have to sell: Your fellow team member, your suppliers, your customers.”

From interacting with the Huobi Team, coupled with their multifaceted components and deep passion for serving the blockchain community across the world, it’s a safe bet that Huobi Pro will become one of the market giants not too dissimilar from Google or Amazon in their respected fields.