Listen to the Article: From "Huobi" to "HTX": The Story Behind The Exchange's Rebranding Hassle

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In October 2022, Huobi Global was officially acquired by About Capital. A month later, on November 22, 2022, Huobi announced a rebranding​, changing the Chinese brand name from "火币/火幣 (literally means Fire Coin)" to "火必 (pronounced the same, but literally means Fire Must", while vowing to pursue global development and "return to the top three crypto exchanges".

However, less than a year after the rebranding in 2022, Fazzaco reported in September 2023 that Huobi had changed its name again, with its English name becoming HTX and its Chinese name reverting back to "火币/火幣", and the official full name will be "火币/火幣HTX". According to HTX's official explanation, H stands for Huobi, T stands for TRON, and X stands for "exchange". Moreover, HT is also the name of Huobi's token, so HTX can also be seen as an exchange for trading HTs.

Today, we will take a glimpse into the story behind this exchange's rebranding hassle.

Huobi's Life: It Has Been A Bumpy Ride

In 2013, former Oracle employee Leon Li founded Huobi.com. Soon, with the rise of Bitcoin and the lack of effective crypto regulation in mainland China, Huobi rode the wave and became China's largest Bitcoin trading platform. In just half a year since Huobi started business, it broke through 1.5 billion yuan in daily trading volume, and then secured tens of millions of US dollars in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital. Then, Huobi became a leading crypto exchange, expanding offerings and services, and raking in billions of dollars in annual profits.

However, things quickly went downhill. In May 2021, China's regulators cracked down on the crypto industry. Huobi issued a notice that it would suspend the registration of new users from mainland China and clear out all traders from there. And before that, China's crypto trading volume accounted for 20% of the world's total.

So, faced with the unprecedented crises, About Capital from Hong Kong acquired the shares held by Leon Li for $3 billion in October 2022. Along with that came the news we mentioned at the beginning: the rebranding hassle Huobi experienced this year.

The Feud Between Leon Li and Justin Sun. Even SBF was In On This?

Let's go back to 2021. After China's central bank issued regulations on virtual assets trading, Leon Li announced that Huobi would shift its focus to overseas markets. However, as Huobi's overseas business development did not go well, Li began looking for buyers to take over the exchange he personally founded.

So, Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, approached him and said "Hey, I would like to buy your business", but he was turned down by Li. In addition, there were insiders who said that even Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)​, the influential figure in the crypto community at that time and founder of FTX, had contacted Li and expressed his intention to buy.

Next came what everyone knows: In October 2022, Li announced that About Capital had officially acquired Huobi Global. Surprisingly, after About Capital took over, Justin Sun appeared as a member of its global advisory board and took on the role of operations.

The reason why Justin Sun rebranded Huobi Global's Chinese name was also because Li and About Capital's agreement did not include the transfer of the ownership of the Chinese brand "火币/火幣", so Justin Sun had to change it to "火必". As a result, in May 2023, when Justin Sun frequently used the original Chinese brand name "火币/火幣" to hype up multiple times, Li was furious and sued him in the Hong Kong High Court.

Justin Sun: Long Known for His Controversial Moves

I think it's fair enough to say that Justin Sun does not have a good reputation in the crypto community. He has always had a habit of playing on the edge and causing controversy to attract attention. However, from an English name point of view, Huobi has indeed been renamed HTX, so technically speaking, there is no infringement.

But under Justin Sun's operation, HTX's situation does not seem to have improved much. On September 25th, HTX suffered a hacker attack and lost $8 million worth of Ethereum assets.