Huobi Thailand will shut down its exchange permanently on July 1, according to an announcement posted on its website.
This marks the exchange’s short-lived expansion into the Southeast Asian country where crypto adoption is flourishing. According to blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, Thailand has one of the world’s highest adoption rates of DeFi, or decentralized financial services, nestling next to the US and Vietnam.
Nonetheless, the government of Thailand has been tightening the use of crypto-based payments amid crashing crypto value. The country had eight licensed crypto exchange platforms as of February, with Bangkok-based Bitkub leading the pack.
Despite its name, Huobi Thailand has tenuous connections to Huobi, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. Huobi Thailand was created using technology provided by Huobi Cloud, Huobi’s blockchain solution provider that helps third parties without the IT capabilities set up over-the-counter exchanges and other crypto-related services.
Huobi Thailand launched just a little over two years ago as Huobi itself was doubling down on global ex …
