Leon Lin Li is a Chinese language entrepreneur who based the cryptocurrency change Huobi in 2013 and grew it into one of many largest platforms within the business earlier than it was rebranded to HTX. He offered his controlling stake in October 2022 and stepped away from Huobi’s operations completely. Leon Li now chairs New Huo Know-how, a separate Hong Kong-listed agency, and controls X-Spot International.
Who Is Leon Li?
Leon Li earned a Grasp’s diploma in Management Science and Engineering from Tsinghua College in 2007 and labored afterward as a pc engineer at Oracle earlier than founding Renrenzhe, a way of life search platform, in 2009. His curiosity in bitcoin adopted after he learn the Bitcoin white paper in 2011.
In 2013, he based Huobi, a Beijing-based digital asset change that grew shortly, partly by charging zero transaction charges, a element Gulf Information famous when it lined his exit from the corporate practically a decade later.
Huobi went on to function in additional than 130 nations, and Leon Li represented the change at worldwide conferences on blockchain coverage and adoption. Huobi exited the Chinese language mainland market in 2021, after Beijing declared cryptocurrency buying and selling unlawful.
That pushed the corporate’s operations additional into Singapore, South Korea, and different areas exterior China. By the point Huobi rebranded to HTX in 2023, Leon Li was now not a part of the corporate. He had already offered his total stake the 12 months earlier than. Leon Li joins a rising record of change founders featured in our crypto personalities part.
Leon Li’s Profession and Contributions
Leon Li’s profession splits into two distinct chapters: the last decade he spent constructing and operating HTX, and the ventures he has managed since promoting it.
From Founding and Promoting Huobi
Leon Li served as founder and CEO of Huobi from 2013 till October 2022. That month, he offered his full stake to a buyout agency managed by About Capital Administration (HK). The sale adopted months of negotiation, with Leon Li reportedly in search of $2 billion to $3 billion for roughly 60% of the corporate, and Tron founder Justin Solar and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried each named as events who had held talks about buying the stake.
After the deal closed, Huobi’s administration confirmed Leon Li would haven’t any additional function in operating the change, which continued on afterward as HTX.
Life After Huobi
Leon Li didn’t depart the crypto business after the sale. He stays majority shareholder and non-executive director of New Huo Know-how, a Hong Kong-listed digital asset providers agency previously often known as Huobi Know-how, and he additionally controls X-Spot International, a separate firm tied to the unique Huobi trademark.
New Huo Know-how was pulled into the FTX collapse in November 2022, when it disclosed that $18.1 million of its subsidiary Hbit Restricted’s crypto property have been caught on the change after it went bankrupt. Of that whole, roughly $13.2 million belonged to purchasers, and $4.9 million belonged to Hbit itself.
To verify consumer funds stayed protected whereas the property have been frozen, Leon Li personally provided New Huo Know-how an unsecured $14 million mortgage as a backstop. The frozen funds have been later recovered in full, so the mortgage was by no means drawn on.
Leon Li’s Views and Positions
Leon Li’s public feedback on bitcoin date again to at the least 2014, when Huobi was considered one of China’s largest exchanges. In a Could 2014 interview with CoinDesk’s Jon Southurst, held close to the International Bitcoin Summit in Beijing, Leon Li and OKCoin’s Star Xu each described themselves as optimistic about bitcoin’s future in China.
They framed the central financial institution’s restrictions on banks working with exchanges as an actual however non permanent impediment relatively than an enduring block, and each pointed to extreme value hypothesis and investor danger because the possible drivers behind the federal government’s actions.
When Leon Li exited Huobi in October 2022, he framed the sale when it comes to the corporate’s route relatively than his personal retreat from the business. In line with the assertion Gulf Information reported on the time, Leon Li tied the transfer to Huobi’s 2021 exit from mainland China and described it as a part of a push towards a brand new possession construction suited to the change’s world operations. He didn’t element his personal plans past the sale itself.
Leon Li’s Internet Price
Leon Li’s internet price is estimated to be $8.16 billion, based on Merchants Union. Merchants Union lists the estimate as present to 2026, opinions the determine twice a 12 months, and ranks Leon Li among the many wealthiest people it tracks within the crypto business.
Leon Li within the Information
In December 2023, X-Spot International, a agency Leon Li controls, received a Hong Kong courtroom injunction ordering Huobi International to cease utilizing the Chinese language-language Huobi trademark, based on CryptoNews. The mark was registered in Hong Kong in 2019, and when Leon Li and co-founder Du Jun offered Huobi International in September 2022 to a agency linked to Justin Solar, the mark stayed with X-Spot, leaving Leon Li with authorized management over a part of the model even after his exit.
CryptoNews additionally reported in Could 2024 that Sinohope, one other entity linked to Leon Li, offered its claims to Ceratosaurus Traders LLC and recovered 108% of the funds trapped on FTX, although the agency nonetheless absorbed losses tied to the episode.
Continuously Requested Questions
Nonetheless curious concerning the particulars? These are the questions that come up most frequently about Leon Li.
What’s Leon Li finest identified for?
Leon Li, typically known as Li Lin in Chinese language-language reporting, is a Beijing-based entrepreneur finest identified for founding Huobi, which grew into one of many highest-volume cryptocurrency exchanges of the mid-2010s. He constructed the platform from a single enterprise into a world operation earlier than stepping again from the crypto change enterprise in 2022.
Does Leon Li nonetheless run Huobi or HTX?
Leon Li doesn’t run Huobi or HTX as we speak. He offered his total stake in October 2022 to a buyout agency managed by About Capital Administration (HK), and an organization spokesperson confirmed on the time that he has no ongoing function within the change, which later rebranded to HTX.
What does Leon Li do now?
Leon Li chairs New Huo Know-how, a Hong Kong-listed digital asset providers agency by which he holds a majority stake, and he individually controls X-Spot International, an entity tied to the unique Huobi trademark. Neither agency operates the Huobi or HTX change itself.
What’s Leon Li’s internet price?
Leon Li’s internet price is estimated to be $8.16 billion, based on Merchants Union. No itemizing for Leon Li presently seems immediately on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires Listing or the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, so the determine must be handled as an aggregator estimate relatively than a confirmed index entry.
Why did X-Spot International sue Huobi International over the Huobi trademark?
X-Spot International, a agency Leon Li controls, received a Hong Kong courtroom injunction in December 2023 ordering Huobi International to cease utilizing the Chinese language-language Huobi trademark. X-Spot had retained rights to the mark after the 2022 sale of Huobi International, based on CryptoNews’ Could 2024 reporting.