Huobi, formerly the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the Chinese market prior to the cryptocurrency trading ban imposed by the local government, is reallocating to Japan, the second largest cryptocurrency market in the world.

Huobi Will Move to Japan and South Korea

In late 2017, China's three major cryptocurrency trading platforms Huobi, OKCoin, and BTCC officially migrated to the Hong Kong bitcoin market, operating over-the-counter (OTC) platforms to address the demand for cryptocurrencies from individual investors in Asia.

Huobi, which rebranded to Huobi Pro to operate in Hong Kong, has started to process large volumes once again along with OKCoin's Hong Kong exchange OKEx. It also has secured a strategic partnership with SBI Group, one of Japan's largest financial institutions, to launch a large-scale cryptocurrency trading platform in Japan and South Korea.

"SBI Holdings has reached a basic agreement with Huobi Group (1.65 million accounts, maximum daily transaction volume of over CNY 30 billion (approximately JPY 510 billion), which has a track record of stably operating a major cryptocurrency exchange in China, to explore the following alliances," the official statement released by SBI Holdings on December 7 read.

The official partnership document further revealed that SBI Group had acquired 30 percent of equity in Huobi's Japanese venture Huobi Technology Japan Co., Ltd.

"SBI Group's acquisition of 30% of equity in Huobi Group's Japanese entity (Huobi Technology Japan Co., Ltd.) and 10% of equity in Huobi Group's Korean entity (HUOBI CO., Ltd). Huobi Group's acquisition of 30% of equity in SBI Virtual Currencies, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings."

The partnership between SBI Holdings and Huobi is particularly noteworthy, as that would prevent any potential conflict between the traders on the Huobi platform and Japanese banks. SBI Holdings is expected to provide the Huobi trading platform with virtual bank accounts and robust banking infrastructure.

The backing of a major financial institution will also significantly help Huobi penetrate into the South Korean cryptocurrency market, given that Japanese and South Korean banks are already collaborating on several cryptocurrency-related projects.