Huobi Thailand Will Shutter on July 1; Here’s Why

Hong Kong-listed Huobi Technology Holdings’ Thailand vertical is set to shut down from July 1 as per a statement by the company.

Huobi said in its announcement that the board of the securities regulator of Thailand has revoked its license as an exchange, making it an unauthorized digital asset trading center in the country.

As the company is forced to permanently close the platform on July 1, 2022, it has reached out to the investors to withdraw funds.

The translated statement stated, “Since September 2021, we have been trying to contact all customers to withdraw their assets. However, there are still a number of customers who cannot be reached.”

As per the regulator, Huobi was found to have a ‘flawed management structure and system’ between February and March 2021. Which, as per the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission, was not sufficient to ensure compliance with required regulations, leading to its license suspension. 

However, under the domestic Digital Assets Act, Huobi was allowed a temporary suspension to correct system deficiencies within the last deadline of Aug. 31, 2021. The SEC also noted that it had extended the deadlines as per Huobi’s request for a total revision period of over five months. However, the agency remarked that the exchange couldn’t resolve the issues around business operations, including trading systems, customer asset retention systems, and information technology systems.

Meanwhile, the exchange has warned, “After the closure of Huobi Thailand platform, Huobi Thailand will no longer have any connections nor legal binding on Huobi Group and its affiliates.”

Notably, Huobi had launched its Thailand arm back in February 2020 with four digital assets—BTC, ETH, HT, and USDT—with Thai Baht.

However back in March, Thailand halted the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for goods and services, citing risks to the economy’s financial stability. 

That said, as per last month’s reports, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has also paused plans on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as it sees plenty of viable alternatives for online payments.