Huobi Global Crypto Exchange to Freeze All U.S. Accounts on November 13

Huobi Global, a leading cryptocurrency exchange with a presence in numerous jurisdictions across the globe, has announced plans to freeze the accounts of all United States users on November 13, 2019, due to regulatory uncertainties. U.S. traders are advised to withdraw their funds before that date, according to a blog post on November 4, 2019.

Huobi Global Shuts Down U.S. Accounts 

In a bid to keep operating in a compliant way and avoid incurring the wrath of the United States financial authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Huobi Global has announced that all U.S. accounts on the platform will be frozen.

As stated in its blog post, the Huobi Global User agreement expressly prohibits U.S. residents from trading bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins on the exchange, as such it has been disabling U.S. accounts to prevent them from trading on the platform.

However, starting from November 13, 2019, (GMT+8) the entire account of U.S. traders who fail to withdraw their funds from the exchange will be frozen. 

Return Borrowed Funds 

The Huobi team has urged users to return all funds they borrowed to carry out margin trading, whilst also withdrawing all their crypto assets on the exchange.

For assets that do not meet the minimum withdrawal threshold, users are required to contact the Huobi Global customer care service to assist them in converting the digital currencies and unused Point Cards to Bitcoin (BTC) or Tether (USDT), to enable them to withdraw the funds.

The Huobi Point Card is simply a prepaid card that holds points that enable traders to enjoy low transaction fees, loan fees, mining and margin trading fees.

Importantly, the exchange has made it clear that all Point cardholders will be reimbursed based on the exact price they purchased the card and the token used. 

Huobi says:

“For instance, if a crypto trader purchased a Point Card Card with 1000 USDT and has 1000 unused points, that trader will receive 1000 USDT. however, if the trader has only 300 unused points out of the 1000 points purchased, the individual will be refunded with 300 USDT.”

Affected users are to send all details concerning their Point Cards, including their names, user ID, token used in the purchase, number of points, amount, and number of copies, to the Huobi customer support team.

As reported by BTCManager earlier in June 2018, Huobi inked a strategic partnership deal with HBUS, a San Francisco-based firm, to enable it service U.S. traders.

With Huobi Global no longer supporting U.S. users, traders will continue to enjoy Huobi’s products and services via the HBUS platform.