Leon Li, Huobi Group founder, is in talks with “big names” in the crypto industry to sell his majority stake in the crypto exchange. Li wants to sell about 60% of his stake, a valuation between $2 billion to $3 billion.
Sources say FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Tron founder Justin Sun are among the potential investors. Huobi is one of the world’s largest crypto trading platforms which sees daily volumes above $1 billion. The company withdrew from China following Beijing’s crackdown on the crypto industry. The platform’s existing investors – ZhenFund and Sequoia China – were informed about Li’s decision during a shareholder meeting in July.
Li, as per Bloomberg, hopes that the new shareholders will be more powerful and resourceful. He wants them to value the Huobi brand and invest more capital and energy to boost the growth of the platform. If the deal is sealed, this could be one of the biggest ever in the crypto industry. Sources believe a deal could be completed by the end of this month.
FTX has been on an acquiring spree during the crypto market downturn. It pulled in Japanese exchange Liquid in April and then Bitvo, a Canadian trading platform, two months later. FTX is also in talks to acquire BlockFi for up to $240 million.
