Report: Huobi to Start Layoffs That Could 'Exceed 30%' — Founder May Sell Stake in Company

According to the Chinese journalist Colin Wu, otherwise known as “Wu Blockchain,” the cryptocurrency company Huobi may lay off 30% of the firm’s staff due to “a sharp drop in revenue.” Furthermore, the reporter claims that Huobi’s co-founder Leon Li is reportedly looking to sell a large stake in the digital assets company.

Colin Wu Reports Layoffs Are Coming to Huobi and the Alleged Sale of 50% Stake

On June 28, 2022, Colin Wu, the local cryptocurrency and blockchain journalist from China, explained that Huobi “will start layoffs, which may exceed 30%.”

Layoffs have been plaguing the crypto industry as companies like Blockfi, Coinbase, Gemini, Bitso, Buenbit, Rain Financial, Bybit, and 2TM have let employees go. The crypto winter and volatile markets have been the main reason why executives have decided to cut workforce numbers.

Wu detailed that “the main reason” why Huobi is laying off staff is because of “the sharp drop in revenue after the removal of all Chinese users.” However, there has been no official announcement about such actions stemming from official Huobi sources.

A company spokesperson did explain to Coindesk reporter Oliver Knight on June 28, that Huobi is in the process of reviewing the firm’s policies. “Due to the current market environment, Huobi Global is in the process of reviewing both its hiring policies and its current manpower, with the goal of re-aligning them to its operational needs. Further to such review, layoffs are a possibility,” the Huobi representative said.

On July 1, 2022, Colin Wu shared another “exclusive” by revealing that Huobi’s co-founder Leon Li is reportedly attempting to sell some of the company. Wu’s claim is unverified and no official announcement about such actions has come from Huobi.

“Huobi founder [Leon] Lin is looking to sell his stake in Huobi. Li Lin currently holds more than 50% of the shares,” Wu detailed on Twitter. “The second-largest shareholder of Huobi is Sequoia China. Huobi’s revenue plummeted after it wiped out all Chinese users and is laying off staff.”

Huobi has seen significant growth during the past 12 months and the exchange is the fifth largest centralized trading platform by trade volume, according to Coingecko statistics.

Huobi offers 577 different digital currencies and has 1027 trading pairs. During the past 24 hours, the exchange has seen $856 million in global trade volume.

Huobi Global is the third-largest centralized exchange in terms of assets under management (AUM) with $7.86 billion at the time of writing. Data from Bituniverse, Peckshield, Etherscan, and Chain.info indicates that Huobi holds 160,950 BTC, 2.13 million ether, and $746.3 million worth of USDT.

At the end of May 2022, Huobi announced that it acquired the Latin American exchange Bitex. Two weeks later, Huobi launched a blockchain and Web3-centric investment arm called Ivy Blocks.