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Former OKEx Chief Joins Rival Cryptocurrency Exchange Huobi

The former chief executive of Hong Kong-based crypto exchange OKEx has said he is joining rival platform Huobi just a week after his resignation.

By Wolfie Zhao
AccessTimeIconMay 21, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 7:58 a.m. UTC
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Chris Lee, the former CEO of Hong Kong-based crypto exchange OKEx, has announced he is joining rival platform Huobi as its vice president of global business development.

According to an announcement by Singapore-based Huobi on Monday, Lee will head the group's global mergers and acquisitions strategy and supervise international development as the exchange moves towards global expansion.

“I am a big believer in blockchain technology and view exchanges as the heart of the industry,” Lee said in the announcement.

The new appointment comes just a week after Lee announced his resignation from OKEx on WeChat – a departure that came after just months as the platform's CEO.

According to his announcement, Lee had been with OKEx's parent firm OKCoin since 2015. He was appointed CEO of OKEx after his predecessor, OKCoin founder Star Xu, stepped down from the role in February.

In a public note on WeChat, Lee suggested that OKCoin has experienced a notable turnover rate of senior executives in the past several years.

He said:

"For my former employer, I have done all I could ... The first generation of OKCoin's international and management teams have left. How many of the second generation are still there? And how many CTOs have left in the last three to four years?"

Lee's resignation also comes soon after OKEx faced accusations from investors that it manipulated bitcoin futures trading on the platform.

As reported previously by CoinDesk, OKEx rolled back futures transactions on March 30 following what it called an "irregular" sell-off, later denying allegations that it "triggered forced liquidations of accounts by manipulating the prices."

"We have not reason to, and have never and will not, manipulate the prices of any of our market," it said at the time.

Bitcoin miniature image via Shutterstock

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