A Compelling Week for Crypto Exchanges 🚨 This article is 6 years old...
A Compelling Week for Crypto Exchanges
2 min read
Updated: Jul. 9, 2018 at 2:43 am UTC
Photo by 鷐 白 on Unsplash
Cryptocurrency exchanges often make headlines for the wrong reasons – compromised customer accounts, security breaches etc., despite the fact they are the primary access point for many crypto investors.
It’s this sentiment that inspired Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, to boldly assert,
“I definitely personally hope centralized exchanges burn in hell as much as possible.”
His comments at the TechCrunch blockchain sessions reflect an animosity towards crypto exchanges starved for good news.
However, this week, crypto exchanges reinforced their presence. Huobi, one of the most popular crypto exchanges, announced a partnership extending to the U.S. and Australia.
Meanwhile, Binance, one of the most prolific global crypto exchanges, is poised for record-breaking profits even as crypto prices and trading volumes are depressed.
Huobi Expands Its Reach
Although Huobi isn’t directly launching in the U.S., it forged a relationship with HBUS to achieve a presence in the country. According to the company’s post on Medium, HBUS is “not an ‘arm,’ ‘subsidiary,’ ‘division,’ or any type of ‘affiliate’ of Huobi.” Instead, Huobi classifies HBUS as the “exclusive US strategic partner of Huobi.”
As HBUS CEO Frank Fu explained,
“We work with Huobi in China as their U.S. partner. We are a separate company. We are independent.”
HBUS is headquartered in San Francisco, and the exchange will feature nine currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, Tether, and Civic. Interestingly, the Huobi Token is not included on the exchange.
We are excited to announce our #launch in less than 24 hours! The 25th person to both retweet, like, and comment on this Tweet with a friend's handle will receive a HBUS hoodie! #blockchain #Decentralization #virtualcurrencies pic.twitter.com/DKuBxxjIGu
— HBUS (U.S. Partner of Huobi) (@hbusofficial) July 5, 2018
Beginning July 10th, 2018, crypto customers in 41 states will have access to the HBUS platform. However, customers in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Hawaii, Vermont, and Washington are not included in the launch.
In addition, Huobi official opened its Australia-based platform that helps open crypto markets to Australia’s burgeoning crypto enthusiasts. According to the launch announcement, traders will have access to ten digital currencies and promises that more will be added in the future.
Binance Poised for Big Profits
In more good news for crypto exchanges, Binance CEO, Zhao Changpeng, revealed to Bloomberg that he expects to profit between $500 million and $1 billion.
According to Mr. Changpeng, the exchange has more than 10 million users and supports $1.5 billion in daily volume. Launched in July 2017, Binance quickly ascended to the top of the exchange marketplace with an estimated $11 billion in trades each day as crypto prices peaked.
Changpeng’s assertions are noteworthy because crypto prices mostly failed to recover from a six-month decline. Lower trading volumes and bearish sentiment settled on the industry, but Huobi’s expansion and Binance’s profit predictions represent real optimism for cryptocurrency adoption.
Both increase crypto mindshare while expanding access to digital currencies. It’s worth monitoring the role of Huobi and Binance and reputable exchanges like Coinbase, to see how greater access and prominence impacts the value of crypto assets.
