Huobi Global announced on Friday that it has agreed to be bought by Hong Kong-based investment firm About Capital Management’s mergers and acquisitions fund.

Leon Li Lin, the Chinese founder of Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global, is selling his majority stake to the Hong Kong investment firm according to Huobi’s announcement.

According to the report, both parties have reached an agreement, which “will have no impact on Huobi’s core operations and business management teams.” However, the parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Under new ownership, Houbi plans to embrace international business expansion initiatives, including injecting sufficient capital into risk and margin provision funds, a global strategic advisory board led by leading industry figures, as well as efforts to enhance competitiveness. commercial.

In a statement, Li, who founded Huobi in China in 2013, said:

“Following Huobi’s exit from the mainland China market in 2021, we have accelerated our globalization drive amid a challenging market environment. We believe that the successful acquisition by the About Capital vehicle will contribute to Huobi’s global expansion.”

The deal comes after months of reports and rumors that founder Leon Li was looking for a buyer for his nearly 60% stake in Huobi and was asking for at least $1 billion.

In August, rumors surfaced that FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried would buy the exchange. But Bankman-Fried later clarified on Twitter that FTX was not planning to acquire the company.

Seychelles-based Huobi was China’s largest cryptocurrency exchange before the nation banned cryptocurrencies last year. Despite taking a significant hit to its revenue following the ban, the exchange has remained one of the top platforms in the industry.

According to sources, one of the main reasons behind Leon’s departure from the company is due to his reluctance to leave China and his unsustainable business in 2022.

Due to the recent slump in the cryptocurrency market, several exchanges immediately cut back on expenses to survive the winter. Huobi is one of the exchanges that experienced difficulties. In June, many crypto companies laid off up to 25% of their staff and several filed for bankruptcy.

Image Source: Shutterstock