Sinohope will be a Hong Kong investment holding company, established by Leon Lee, the founder
Hong Kong investment holding company Sinohope, established by Leon Li, co-founder of the Huobi exchange (HTX), will recover more than 100% of its stranded deposits from the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX through its subsidiary Hbit .
According to a May 24 announcement that began trading on May 28, Hbit sold $19.5 million worth of debt to debt investment firm Ceratosaurus Investors LLC. At the time of the November 2022 crash, Sinohope had $18.1 million in deposits blocked on FTX. The operation includes the repurchase of 108% of the company’s assets.
Sinohope was materially affected by the unrecovered funds. On December 13, 2023, the company revealed that it expected a loss of HK$280 million ($35.86 million) for the first nine months of the year, compared to HK$200 million ($35.86 million) in Hong Kong ($25.61 million) lost during the period. The same period in 2022.
Part of the loss included 86 million Hong Kong dollars ($11 million) in frozen corporate deposits with the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. To keep the company alive, Leon Li had to personally extend a $14 million personal credit line to bail out Sinohope customers affected by the FTX collapse.
On December 11, 2023, X-Spot Global, another company owned by Leon Lee, obtained an injunction against Huobi Global, requiring the latter to stop using the Chinese equivalent of the “Huobi” trademark in Hong Kong.
According to court documents, the Huobi trademark was registered in 2019 in Hong Kong. In September 2022, co-founders Leon Li and Du Jun sold Huobi Global to About Capital Management, an entity linked to Chinese blockchain personality Justin Sun. However, prior to the acquisition, the Chinese language rights to the Huobi brand were fully transferred to Leon Li’s X-Spot Global, making the entity the owner of the brand. Huobi was then rebranded as HTX last September.
In response to the sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices amid the ongoing bull market, the value of FTX creditors’ claims – many of which are crypto-denominated – has increased. Current FTX claims recovery estimates range from 129% to 143%.
Related: HTX Crypto Exchange Surpasses Coinbase in Trading Volumes
