No Truth to Rumors of Crypto Executive’s Arrest: Huobi

Huobi, a global exchange with monthly trading volumes above $170 billion, has denied rumors that a senior executive has been arrested.

“All of Huobi’s management team members have been accounted for and have not been detained or arrested,” a tweet from the Huobi Global account read. “We understand that the spread of false information can lead to concerns about the safety of user assets, but please rest assured your assets are safe.”

Earlier in the day, rumors percolated in social media that COO Robin Zhu of Huobi Global Limited, based in Singapore, had been arrested by authorities. 

Huobi’s assurances haven’t stopped users from withdrawing funds, lest they find themselves in the same boat as users of OKEx. The founder of that exchange, Xu Mingxing, was detained by policy in mid-October; the exchange has halted withdrawals since October 16, with no word on when they will be lifted.

In fact, several hours before it directly addressed rumors of an arrest, Huobi tweeted that it uses a multi-signature process for withdrawals so that users don't have to rely on a single key-holder. Last week, OKEx replied to speculation that it used a single-signature Bitcoin wallet. Though it claimed that it does not, the halting of withdrawals aligns with the detention of Xu.

According to CryptoQuant, a lot of Bitcoin left the chain earlier today all at once:

Around the same time, large inflows of Tether—worth about $400 million—made their way into Huobi wallets, perhaps to settle traders’ nerves.

Huobi Token, an Ethereum-based asset that provides exchange users with rewards, is down 10% over the last 24 hours.