Huobi Global, a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange, announced over the weekend that it had been acquired by an investment firm without providing more details. Huobi Global’s controlling shareholders completed transactions on October 8 to sell their entire shareholdings to About Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based fund management firm.
However, the true backers of the deal could be a couple of the industry’s most prominent figures, such as TRON founder Justin Sun. On October 8, Justin Sun was present at the delivery site in Singapore. At the moment, Justin Sun is aggressively recruiting, and some Huobi departments are also taking over.
On October 10, the Chinese blockchain news outlet Wu Blockchain cited multiple sources claiming Sun was the primary investor in this fund of mergers and acquisitions.
The same day, Sun Tweeted, confirming that he had been appointed as a member of the Global Advisory Board of Huobi Global.
Chen Yihua, the founder of About Capital, Du Jun, Justin Sun, Vice President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Wang Yang, and Valkyrle Leah Wald, are among the advisors.
There is also a chance that FTX CEO and crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried invested in supporting Justin Sun in this rumored acquisition. SBF, on the other hand, has previously denied any interest in Huobi.
Bloomberg reported on August 12 that Huobi Lilin was looking to sell its majority stake in the exchange for $3 billion. According to the report, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Justin Sun were among the interested investors who met with Li. However, Justin Sun Tweeted in response, saying, “We are not currently involved in any matters related to Bloomberg’s reporting.”
SBF then stated that his company had no plans to purchase the exchange. However, it is rumored that FTX has made an investment to help Justin Sun now. This could also push Binance, which has been backing Justin Sun, into the position of his competitor.
Sun was spotted at Huobi’s event stand and the after-party for employees at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore last month. According to the report by WuBlockchain, Justin Sun and the FTX CFO frequently communicated in Singapore about acquiring Huobi.
