key takeaways
- Huobi has confirmed its plans to reduce its workforce by 20%.
- The exchange is also rumored to have removed internal communication channels, forced employees to receive their salaries in stablecoins, and canceled various employee benefits.
- Justin Sun also moved over $100 million worth of stablecoins to the exchange today.
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Huobi Global, the crypto exchange Justin Sun was rumored to have acquired in October through a middleman company, is plagued with all sorts of rumors. Huobi has denied some of the claims and confirmed others.
Huobi in trouble?
Strange things are happening on Huobi.
The crypto exchange confirmed today that it would cut about 20% of its workforce. The news comes as Huobi is rumored to have shut down internal communication and feedback channels. The company is also reportedly requiring its domestic staff to sign up for Huobi accounts in order to receive salaries paid in stablecoins, and is believed to have canceled various employee benefits.
“The proportion of planned layoffs is around 20%, but it is not implemented now. With the current state of the bear market, a very small team will remain in the future,” said a spokesperson for the company. However, they denied rumors about the shutdown of internal communication and feedback channels, saying the claims about reduced employee benefits were incorrect.
According to CoinRanking, Huobi Global is currently the 10th largest crypto exchange in the world in terms of trading volume. In August 2022, Huobi founder Leon Li started posting your interest in selling your 60% interest in the company; in early October, the exchange had struck a deal with Hong Kong-based investment firm About Capital, giving it control of a majority stake within the company.
Tron founder Justin Sun is rumored to have used About Capital as an intermediary company to acquire Huobi. Sun has denied the claims, insisting that he only joined the company as an adviser. Interestingly, on-chain data seems show that Sun moved approximately $100 million worth of USDT and USDC to the exchange earlier today. He too took to Twitter to reassure Huobi customers, encouraging them to “ignore FUD and keep building.”
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and various other crypto assets.
