Sam Bankman-Fried & Justin Sun to Buy Majority of Huobi Global Exchange?

Leon Li, the founder of , is in talks with investors for selling his majority stakes in the crypto-exchange with a valuation of more than $3 billion, as reported by Bloomberg.

It is estimated that this could be one of the biggest deals ever in the crypto industry since the $2 trillion crypto rout began. According to coingecko coingecko - hello@coingecko.com Data aggregator , Huobi is one of the largest crypto exchanges with a daily trade volume of over $1 billion. 

Li is seeking to sell roughly 60 percent of the company and has held preliminary talks with tron tron - service@tron.network Blockchain Network founder Justin Sun Justin Sun Justin Sun is a popular figure in the crypto sector and a former diplomat and entrepreneur. He is the creator of the TRON blockchain DAO framework and holds a significant position within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. He represented Grenada at in Geneva at WTO. Furthermore, he provides mentorship to BitTorrent, Animoca, Poloniex, and various blockchain initiatives. In 2024, he contributed $30 million to World Liberty Financial a cryptocurrency venture. Quick Facts Full Name Justin Sun Birth 30-07-1990 in Xining, Qinghai, China Nationality Chinese, Grenadian Education Peking University, University of Pennsylvania Marital Status Unmarried as of 2025 Net Worth $2B estimated     Experience  Founded the TRON organization in the year 2017. Acquired BitTorrent sharing with the TRON ecosystem in the year 2018.. Launched TRON's main net in the year 2018. Attained significant sales of TRX tokens in the year 2018. Initiated a strategic partnership to grow TRON in the year 2019. Advanced TRON with innovative projects in the year 2020. Recognized by Forbes in the crypto space in the year 2021. Expands TRON with NFT, DeFi, and Web3 initiatives in the year 2022. Advanced innovation to strengthen TRON's position as a leader in the year 2023. Invested $30 M in World Liberty Financial, a crypto initiative in the year 2024. EntrepreneurInvestorCrypto and Blockchain ExpertChief Executive Officer and FTX founder , the report stated, citing people familiar with the matter. 

The existing investors of the company including ZhenFund and Sequoia China were informed about Li’s decision during the July shareholders’ meeting. It is estimated that the deal might be concluded by the end of this month. Li is seeking a valuation of $2 billion – $3 billion, implying the stake sale could fetch upwards of $1 billion. 

If concluded it will be one of the biggest deals in the crypto industry, keeping in mind the “crypto winter”. With the crypto market spiraling down, many big firms were forced to cut costs and jobs, whereas this will be the first instance where a majority stake will be sold by one of the biggest crypto firms. 

Huobi was one of the most active bitcoin org bitcoin org - Event OrganiserTechnologyPayment solution  trading platforms on the globe, but it had to retreat from China which was once its biggest user base and revenue source. After Beijing declared crypto-transactions illegal last year, Li’s company stopped providing services to Chinese users. 

Huobi has roughly handled $1.12 billion of crypto transactions over the 24 hrs to August 12, a little more than half of the trades hosted by Coinbase Global Inc., according to CoinGecko. 

After bloomberg bloomberg - MediaConglomerate company report was published, Huobi’s native token HT saw an increase of 25 percent to $5.43, hitting a high of $5.80 at one point.