Huobi exchange CEO Leon Lee is in talks to sell his stake in the business for $3 billion

The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, Leon Lee, is in talks with a group of investors to sell a controlling stake in the cryptocurrency exchange for $3 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing sources close to the negotiations.

Lee intends to sell about 60% of the company, which he founded nearly a decade ago. TRON ecosystem founder Justin Sun and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried are among those interested. It remains unclear, however, whether they have agreed to the terms of the deal.

According to unofficial information, the deal could be completed as early as the end of August, but the exact timing remains unclear. Huobi CEO confirmed in a comment to Bloomberg that Lee is discussing the sale of a stake, but declined to elaborate on the details. At the same time, Justin Sun said in a media commentary that he was not in talks with the head of Huobi to buy the business.

Bloomberg notes that for health reasons, Lee has long given others control of the Huobi business. Whether the current deal is related to his health is unclear.

As a reminder, Huobi curtailed its mining business in China in the summer of 2021 and also limited its trading functionality. According to media reports, OKEx, a cryptocurrency exchange, also closed its business in China.

Huobi said the decision was made because of “dynamic changes in the market.” Representatives of the exchange added that this way they wanted to protect the interests of investors. The “temporary” restrictions included futures contracts, crypto products traded on exchanges, as well as lending.

Earlier we reported that the U.S. stock exchange regulator launched an investigation into Coinbase.

Law enforcement authorities in South Korea have begun making arrests in a case involving abnormal bank transfers linked to the biggest crypto exchanges in Korea.

The South Korean prosecutor’s office has made its first arrests in the investigation of over $3 billion in illegal cryptocurrency-related transactions. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing the prosecutor’s office in Daegu.

As you know, Korea bans cryptocurrency. It is reported that law enforcement authorities have detained three suspects in the creation of fictitious companies to conduct the business of trading cryptocurrency without a license. According to the prosecutor’s office, the detainees are also suspected of providing false data to banking organizations for arbitrage totaling $307 million.

As noted by the media, the detainees are being held as part of a case of billions of dollars in transfers through major Korean banks since February 2021. As a reminder, the editorial board wrote that two Korean banks (Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank) had anomalous $3.1 billion worth of currency transactions, with local regulators claiming that cryptocurrency exchanges and a certain local trading company were involved in most of the transactions.

In fact, the investigation against the banks is linked to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. The media revealed that the Korean financial regulator contacted the banks just a week after prosecutors raided seven of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges in a case involving the collapse of the blockchain ecosystem.

As the editorial wrote, prosecutors seized transaction records as well as other material from the Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and other exchanges. In addition to the trading venues, prosecutors also raided eight other locations, including the offices and private property of those involved in the case.

We previously reported that OpenSea is allowed to resell stolen NFTs, as long as it does not force OpenSea to report stolen NFTs.

According to the survey, 90% of best crypto traders to follow consider the possibility of the economic crisis in the U.S., with 74% of them expecting it this year

According to the survey, 18% of traders are now most worried about the possibility of an economic crisis – 6% more than in the previous quarter. It turns out that 63% of traders surveyed have a negative attitude toward crypto and meme coins.

An economic crisis is inevitable, said crypto traders

The survey also revealed that few traders intended to buy digital assets soon. Basically, only experienced investors and buyers are ready to stay in the market.

Meanwhile, a large majority (69%) of respondents believe that the economic crisis will last a year or less. Only one in five withdraws funds from the stock market in an attempt to protect themselves from a possible fall.

It’s worth noting that despite having the highest correlation between stocks and crypto in several years, bitcoin’s moving correlation with Nasdaq bonds has fallen to its lowest level in three months. What does this mean? The crypto market is finally moving away from traditional assets.

Inflation is still the top concern for traders (21%), and nearly 79% of them expect it to decline by the end of 2023. Most traders also believe the Fed will gradually slow interest rate hikes for the remainder of 2022.

After all, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the U.S. Department of Labor, annual inflation in the United States slowed to 8.5% in July.

Earlier we reported that Crypto prices today rise as U.S. inflation declines.