Huobi Plans to Return to the US with Nevada License

After suddenly exiting the US market back in 2019, it appears that Huobi Group, a top crypto exchange, is planning to make a return. According to a filing made on Tuesday with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Huobi said that a trust license had been approved by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division for the subsidiary named Huobi Trust Company. The company will be able to use this license for offering custodial and compliance services in the United States market from the next year. This coincides with the plans of the exchange to roll out regulated financial services and products in the country.

The purpose of a trust company is to manage the assets that are deposited with it by a group of investors. Grayscale trusts is an excellent example of such a firm, which uses the structure for providing crypto exposure to investors within the traditional market. Lan Jianzhong, the executive director of the Huobi Group, also talked about this new development. However, he did disclose that the exchange hadn’t as yet resumed any of their trust or related services for now. He went on to say that potential stakeholders and investors should exercise caution when they are dealing with the shares of the company. 

When he was contacted for further comments about the exchange’s return to the United States, he didn’t give any immediate response. Last year, when the Huobi exchange had ceased its operations in the United States, it had stated that the step had been taken by the company because of the harsh regulatory environment. At that time, the company said that this departure was the correct step for it because it would help it in making its businesses more compliant with the regulations and laws in the US. Nonetheless, since its departure, the company was searching for various ways to make a comeback in the US market. 

In April this year, the Huobi Group Head, Ciara Sun had stated that they were considering entering into a partnership with a fully regulated brokerage for operating their businesses in the country. According to the press statements made by the company, the Huobi Trust Company based in Nevada, will be led by their chief trust officer, Simon Collier. On the other hand, the firm’s compliance program will be headed by Aja Heise, who worked at Prime Trust as a former chief complaint officer. This move comes when the US law enforcement agencies are imposing tougher rules and regulations on crypto companies and crypto exchanges in the country.

A number of crypto companies that are based abroad have already been sanctioned by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There are a number of global crypto exchanges that are still facing problems in obtaining licenses from the US authorities for their fiat-crypto trading businesses. Binance, which is the largest global exchange in terms of trading volume, had announced in June that crypto services will only be provided to US residents if they were willing to comply with the KYC procedures implemented by the exchange.