Today, the US arm of Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi announced that it is launching support to XRP trading pairs. Users will now be able to trade XRP against US dollar, Tether and also against Bitcoin, namely USD/XRP, BTC/XRP, and USDT/XRP.
Huobi Global’s OTC derivatives trading service already announced the listing of XRP contracts back in March. Huobi’s inclusion was yet another step towards XRP’s massive adoption spree this year after it was listed on Coinbase Pro in February.
Adoption of XRP has begun in several exchanges, and it even defies the trend of using Bitcoin or Ethereum as sole base currencies. The move comes as cryptocurrency exchanges are starting to copy the safeguards commonly used by their mainstream counterparts after a steady stream of hacks, asset thefts, and technical issues. The XRP protocol is seen as the most sophisticated in this context as it is already adopted or tested by several big banks.
Expanding into New Directions
Huobi, the third largest crypto exchange by 24-hour trading volume, announced earlier this year a mutual rebranding with its exclusive US strategic partner HBUS. Per the agreement, HBUS has licensed the Huobi brand and rebranded its retail Trading Platform from HBUS.com to Huobi.com.
Huobi Group’s crypto platform continued to operate under the same name but changed its domain to hbg.com. HBUS marketplace rebranded as Huobi and migrated its trading platform to huobi.com, which is now open to American customers.
Huobi is also preparing the infrastructure to launch its own Stablecoin in the first half of 2019. The exchange already has an ‘all-in-one stablecoin’ wrapper called HUSD which supports four US-regulated stablecoins: Paxos Standard (PAX), True USD (TUSD), USD Coin (USDC), and Gemini Dollar (GUSD). Notably, Tether (USDT) has been left out.
Meanwhile, the Nevada trust company will provide custody for Huobi’s fiat-crypto venue and is looking to facilitate clearing and settlement of OTC block trades.
