Huobi Establishes Physical Presence In Russia

Huobi has set sights on Russia’s cryptocurrency marketplace as part of its expansion drive. The third largest cryptocurrency exchange has already opened an office in Moscow. With the opening, Huobi becomes the first exchange with a physical presence in Russia.

Huobi Russian Operations

However, its operations in Russia will be slightly different. In addition to offering cryptocurrency trading services, the exchange looks to take its crypto operations to another level. For starters, the exchange plans to venture into the business of lending and renting space for miners in the country.

Huobi also hopes to play a pivotal role in the creation of the country’s cryptocurrency regulation framework. The firm also plans to assist in the training of blockchain talent in the country. Moreover, the opening of an office in Russia provides the firm with an opportunity to operate a Russian-language call center.

While other cryptocurrency exchanges do run Russian-language interfaces, getting real-time support in the Russian language remains a challenge. Huobi hopes to cater to the needs and queries of people who cannot speak English, Chinese or Korean with the new call center.

The only exchange that did run a Russian-language call-center was BTC-e. Unfortunately, the U.S. authorities did shut down the exchange’s operations mid last year. WEX cryptocurrency exchange also tried to offer similar services until its shutdown mid this year.

OTC Trading Support

In addition to the Russian-language call center, Huobi also plans to offer office support for OTC trading and listing. Backed by a workforce of about 30 people, the exchange will offer personal managers for big clients.

Likewise, in a bid to attract more Russian traders on the platform, the company promises a lower commission of as much as 0.1%. Similarly, Huobi promises cashback rewards; users will receive up to 20% of trading fees they pay on the exchange in the form of Huobi tokens.

Huobi did intend to enable deposits on the trading platform in Russian rubles. However, it backed out of the idea on the advice of local experts. The country’s fiat currency has taken a significant hit in recent years due to spiraling economic sanctions from the U.S. Nonetheless, Russian users will still be able to buy cryptocurrencies for rubles using the exchange’s OTC services.

Even as Huobi continues to make inroads into Russia, the country’s regulatory framework remains uncertain. Currently, three bills are touching on the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) still pending in the country’s parliament.

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