Huobi Global Acquires Latin American Crypto Exchange Bitex

Huobi Global, a crypto exchange registered in Republic of Seychelles, acquired Latin American crypto exchange Bitex to expand its presence in the region, Huobi said Thursday.

Huobi Global plans to integrate Bitex’s exchange platform with its global platform, the company said in a statement. Bitex will continue operating under its current name and management team in Latin America, Bitex CEO Francisco Buero told CoinDesk.
Founded in 2014, Bitex operates in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It is about to launch operations in Peru and plans to expand “soon” to other undisclosed Latin American countries, according to Buero. He excluded Brazil from that list of countries for the time being.
With over 200,000 open accounts, Bitex serves individuals, high-net-worth clients and corporate customers, Buero said.
In February, Huobi said it was planning to re-enter the U.S. market after it shut down its business in China to comply with a local ban on crypto-related transactions. From last September through December, Huobi lost about a third of its revenue, company co-founder Du Jun said recently.

CORRECTION: (May 27, 11:01 UTC): Adds "Global" to name on first reference, reference to Seychelles registration; original said Huobi was Chinese.

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Andrés Engler

Andrés Engler was a CoinDesk editor based in Argentina, where he covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. He holds BTC and ETH.

Follow @andresengler on Twitter

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