It" Claims Digital Assets Will Be Available in U.S. at Some Point in Future

The Huobi cryptocurrency exchange's subsidiary called HBIT Inc has received its Money Services Business (MSB) license from the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

On July 5, the Seychelles-based Huobi said that the license would allow it to conduct crypto-related business in the U.S. in future, as part of its strategic goal of "globalization and compliance". The exchange is a major player, with $1 billion in volume in the past 24 hours according to CoinGecko.

In the past, most Huobi users came from China but according to Statista's latest figures, Russia and Ukraine have the majority of its users.

The MSB license allows Huobi's subsidiary to transmit money and operate as a fiat currency exchange, which is a necessary step for U.S. regulators to monitor financial crimes such as money laundering.

But it does not allow it to provide crypto-exchange services — which would require a money transmitter license. In the future, it expects to provide U.S. users with a compliant digital asset service,

Huobi said that its subsidiaries in Hong Kong had also obtained asset management and securities advising licenses from the country's Securities and Futures Commission.

The subsidiaries are also in the process of applying for a license to become a fully compliant crypto-exchange.

Huobi has been licensing a number of major blockchain projects.

On June 21, the exchange won licenses in New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. The latter was an Innovation License that, while not a trading license, allows it to access the local technology industry and get special tax treatment.

At the time, Huobi Group's chief financial officer Lily Zhang told Cointelegraph that the company is waiting for approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) to offer its full range of crypto exchange services.

Although the exchange has seen significant growth, it had its Thai license revoked on June 16 after failing to comply with local regulations. There are also rumors that the exchange has laid off many of its staff and that its founder might be looking to exit the business

On June 28, Hong Kong-based crypto reporter Colin Wu reported that Huboi was planning to lay off up to 30% of its staff. Later on July 2, an update stated that Li Lin, the founder of Huboi, was seeking to sell his 50% stake.

The exchange reportedly lost around 30% of its revenue due to the Chinese government's restrictions on crypto trading, which led to the loss of many users in that country.

As of the time of writing, Huobi has not issued a statement in response to the rumors.