China-based ‘Fire currency’ or Huobi to the outside world was introduced in May 2013 by Leon LI, and in less than a year it has grown to become the largest exchange for Bitcoins.
The trajectory of growth for Huobi has been high volume trading, driven by its no-exchange fee policy.
Though the high volumes did a the surge of speculations on the integrity of the exchange, it has sustained the negativity and continues to grow. Typically, Huobi is logging some of the highest rates of micro-transactions, bot trading besides raising the trading volumes as well.
As Li commented in an interview, “Having large volumes is related to our no-exchange fee strategy.”
With Huobi an established player, the focus has now been on expansion. The first step towards this end is the establishment of a separate entity called BitVC.
Developed to become an end-to-end digital investment platform and has in the initial stages – margin trading and interest-bearing savings account, features.
In the second phase features to be included are, “futures trading, wealth management products, and other digital currency derivatives,” Li announced.
Driving home the unique points which BitVC offers, Li shared that, “This will not be just another trading platform; it will be something totally unique in the Bitcoin industry.”
He reiterates that BitVC mission remains different from other players in this segment such as OKCoin or BitFinex, due to one single factor – BitVC does not offer fiat currency services. BitVC is restricted only to the realm of digital currency transactions, thereby lowering the risks of regulatory compliance.
Following up on the independent platform for bitcurrency, Huobi has since acquired Qukuai.com as well as Quickwallet. Currently, Quickwallet continues to operate as an independent entity and will become part of the largest expansion strategy internationally.