Skip to content
Swen Keller
- Home
- /
- Singapore & Crypto
- /
- Crypto Exchanges Singapore
- /
- Huobi Singapore Review 2023:...
Huobi Singapore Review 2023: Fees, Regulation & more
Swen Keller
- URL: https://www.huobi.sg/
- Headquarter: Seychelles
- Year Founded: 2021
- Platform App: Desktop
- No. of Cryptos: 4
- Fiats Available: SGD/USD
- Withdraw Method: Wire Transfer/Crypto
- Payment Method: Wire transfer/ Crypto
Huobi Singapore Review: Our Opinion
Huobi Singapore, a subsidiary of Huobi Tech (the company that owns Huobi Global), allows Singaporean residents to buy and sell cryptocurrencies from the exchange since their exit from the country. But that’s just about it. Besides allowing you to buy and sell just 4 cryptocurrencies, Huobi Singapore doesn’t offer much. You won’t find features like margin trading, NFTS, or tools for advanced crypto trading. The exchange also features complex verification processes that most seasoned crypto users will find discomfiting.
Huobi Singapore is a subsidiary owned by Houbi Technology Holdings, the company behind Huobi Global, a digital asset exchange. The subsidiary is a cryptocurrency exchange that operates with a license exemption granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act.
The platform focuses primarily on ensuring compliance with regulatory demands in Singapore and securing users’ assets.
Huobi Singapore features an anti-money laundering (AML) program and a Know Your Client (KYC) framework. Also, users’ assets are separated from the company’s funds and are majorly kept in cold storage as well as monitored 24/7.
Beyond the regulatory and security features, Huobi Singapore also offers high liquidity for customers with large order requirements via over-the-counter brokerage services.
In this Huobi exchange review, we will take a deep dive into all this subsidiary platform has to offer. The review is built on first-hand experience, expert opinion, competitor analysis, and over 100 user reviews.
An Overview of Huobi Singapore
Huobi Singapore is a subsidiary fully owned by Huobi Technology Holdings Limited. Huobi Technology is a cryptocurrency exchange platform based in Seychelles. The parent company was founded in 2013 by Leon Li in Beijing and now has offices in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea
Leon Li was a computer engineer at Oracle before launching Huobi. On May 15, 2013, the Huobi Group bought the huobi.com domain and on August 1st of the same year, Houbi launched a prototype trading platform. By September 1, the Bitcoin trading platform was launched.
In November 2013, the company received angel investments from Zhen Fund and Dai Zhikang. By 2014, Huobi had raised a $10 million venture capital investment from Sequoia Capital. And by August of the same year, Huobi bought Bitcoin wallet provider Quick Wallet.
As of December 2013, Huobi was already the largest cryptocurrency exchange in China with a trading volume of over 30 billion yuan. In November 2016, Huobi had a total transaction volume of 1.7 trillion yuan, which accounted for over 60% of the global bitcoin recurrent market at the time.
In November 2017, Huobi launched operations in Singapore with its total trading volume exceeding 30 billion RMB in its first month. However, in 2021 Huobi shut down its digital currency operations in Singapore for regulatory compliance issues to open up a new regulated subsidiary Huobi Singapore.
Pros
- High liquidity for large customer orders
- Regulatory compliance
- Operates under license exemption
- Cold storage
- Low spot trading fees
Cons
- Withdrawals are only permitted to wallets on other approved VASPs
- KYC process is draining
- Trustpilot page has fake reviews from the company
- Users can only view 4 months of historic data
- A complex cryptocurrency deposit process
- Very limited cryptocurrency options
- No access to Huobi token
Key Features of Huobi Singapore
Huobi Singapore OTC Brokerage
The OTC brokerage feature on the Huobi exchange provides professional liquidity and trading services to corporate institutions. Huobi Singapore achieves this by leveraging its counterparty network. The OTC brokerage service features compliance with international standard AML and CFT requirements, zero transaction fees, global liquidity coverage, and real-time market quotes on its trading interface.
The OTC brokerage service also supports block trading between major currencies and tokens, voice trading, a professional skinny manager, and one on one exclusive service.
Concerning the on-boarding process, Huobi Singapore appoints a dedicated account manager to your corporation to help support and guide your team during the process. You can also request for your orders to be executed through your account manager via a dedicated channel.
Cryptocurrencies Available on Huobi Singapore
Huobi Singapore supports only 4 cryptocurrencies at the moment:
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash Node
- Litecoin
- Ethereum
Bitcoin (BTC)
The Huobi exchange supports a specific address format for Bitcoin transactions. On the exchange, you can only carry out deposits and withdrawals through the Bitcoin Legacy Address format (P2PKH). The Bech32 address that starts with “bc1” and the P2SH address that starts with “3” are not supported. Here’s what a Bitcoin Legacy Address looks like; 1BvBMGUYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2.
Bitcoin Cash Node (BCH)
The Huobi exchange only supports deposits and withdrawals that use the BCH Legacy Address format. This means that Huobi Singapore does not support the Cash Address format.
Here’s what the BCH Legacy Address format looks like: 38ty1qB68gHsiyZ8k3RPeCJ1wYQPrUCPPr.
The BCH Cash Address format, on the other hand, looks like this: pp8skudq3x5hzw8ew7vzsw8tn4k8wxsqsv0lt0mf3g.
That said, you can set up a BCH wallet address in Huobi Singapore from an approved cryptocurrency exchange that supports only the Cash Address format. To do so, you would have to convert the deposit address given by the source crypto exchange to a Legacy Address from a Cash Address Format using a converter tool like Bitcoin Cash Converter.
Alternatively, if you intend to deposit BCH from another crypto exchange that only supports the Cash Address Format, you would have to convert the deposit address in your Huobi Singapore wallet to the Cash Address Format from a Legacy Address using the Bitcoin Cash Converter.
Litecoin
The exchange allows only deposits and withdrawals to your Huobi account using the SegWit P2SH address (starts with M) and LTC Legacy L-Address (begins with L) format on the exchange.
Ethereum
The exchange supports only the standard ERC-20 (a 42-character hexadecimal address). Here’s an example of the supported Ethereum address: 0x06012c8cf97bead5deae237070f9587f8e7a266d.
Huobi Singapore Fees
Huobi Singapore charges different trading fees depending on the type of transaction.
Spot Trading Fees
Huobi charges users 0.1% in spot trading fees.
Brokerage Trading Fees
The subsidiary does not charge trading fees for OTC brokerage services rather it charges a spread on the quoted price for all transactions.
Fiat Currencies: Deposit and Withdrawals
Houbi Singapore levies a withdrawal fee of USD 10 for USD wire transfers, deposits, and withdrawals. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the trading platform acknowledges the possibility of varying wire transfer fees among different banks.
Token Deposit and Withdrawal
- For BTC withdrawals the trading platform charges a 0.0004 BTC fee.
- For LTC withdrawals Huobi Singapore charges a 0.002 LTC fee.
- For BCH withdrawals the platform charges a 0.0013 BCG fee.
- For ETH withdrawals Huobi Singapore charges a 0.05 ETH fee
They also have a failed deposit refund fee for each token:
- BTC: 0.0007
- LTC: 0.0547
- BCH: 0.0167
- ETH: 0.0089
The deposit refund feature is only available for failed deposits from AML-compliant source addresses. The fee charged is inclusive of processing + withdrawal charges.
Huobi Payment Methods
Huobi’s digital currency presents a duo of convenient payment options: wire transfer and token deposits, both of which come with their own minimum deposit requirements
Token Deposits
- ETH: Minimum deposit of 0.007
- LTC: Minimum deposit of 0.051
- BCH: Minimum deposit of 0.009
- BTC: Minimum deposit of 0.008
Wire Transfer
For USD deposits there’s a minimum deposit amount of USD 100.
Huobi Singapore Security
Huobi Singapore offers various security measures. Here are a couple of options:
AML Compliance
Huobi Singapore implements Anti-money Laundering measures on the exchange. To do this, Huobi Singapore connects with other regulated platforms by requiring that all users are only able to deposit and withdraw from and to cryptocurrency addresses that are generated from other regulated crypto exchanges. This prevents money laundering and also theft as all crypto addresses are trackable. So if a hacker gains access to your account they will be unable to send out funds to random cryptocurrency exchanges.
Huobi Singapore also requires that you register your private wallet. So before funds can be sent out to a private wallet by bad actors the wallet must be registered on the exchange. In the wallet verification process, a fraudulent transaction can easily be discovered.
Cold Storage
According to Huobi, the exchange ensures that the firm’s assets and customer funds remain distinct. The funds are meticulously safeguarded in a state-of-the-art cold storage system. This innovative approach guarantees that your deposited funds are securely stored offline and under constant surveillance, effectively safeguarding them against any potential threats or unauthorized access posed by account hacks or exchange-wide breaches.
Opening a Huobi Singapore Account
To open your Huobi Singapore account, visit https://www.huobi.sg/ not Huobi global. Next, click the “Register” button located on the upper right-hand side of the website.
Next, choose your ‘Country’ correctly as you won’t be able to change it once you’ve created your login.
If you’re signing up as an individual the country field should match the country of issuance for the identification document you intend to submit.
For business signups, your country should match your organization’s country of incorporation.
After registration to deposit funds you need to complete your KYC. To do so, get softcopies of your documents ready (government-issued ID, proof of address, phone verification, email authentication, etc). Next, click ‘User Center‘ (the icon with a human head) at the upper right corner of your screen after login in and click KYC.
If you’re opening an account as an individual click ‘Verify‘ beneath the Personal KYC verification segment. Alternatively, if you’re representing your organization click ‘Verify‘ beneath the ‘Corporate KYC‘ section.
Every KYC submission undergoes manual review and approval. Huobi Singapore will notify you of the outcome of your submission via SMS or email.
Next, you’ll need to register your wallet address to deposit tokens. To do so, click ‘Balance‘ in the upper right corner. Then click the ‘Address Setup’ sub-menu option on the left-hand side of your screen.
Click ‘New Wallet Address’ fill it and submit your wallet address setup request.
Every wallet address registration undergoes manual review and approval. Once that’s done, their system will display your approval status. If the status is ‘Approved’ you can begin depositing into the address.
Trading Experience on Huobi Singapore
To begin trading you have to deposit tokens in your wallet. To do so, click ‘Balance‘ in the upper right menu.
Next, click Access Balance – Deposit
Choose Token
Locate the minimum token deposit quantity
Copy and paste your Huobi Singapore wallet address to the platform you’re sending from and start token deposit into Huobi Singapore.
You’ll have to save a record of the TxHash generated from the Withdrawal on the platform you’re sending from.
Choose the Source Address on the Huobi Singapore deposit page.
Enter the expected deposit quantity then enter the TxHash obtained from the platform you’re sending from.
Click ‘Deposit Completed‘ to finish the deposit request.
You can begin trading now. To do so, click the trade button in the upper left corner of the menu.
Houbi Singapore offers just 4 cryptocurrencies so its trading experience is quite limited. Also, you cannot send crypto to just any wallet address except it’s a private wallet. The wallet must be on a regulated platform and will be reviewed to ensure it is.
This makes withdrawing and depositing funds for trades very complex. Trading itself is straightforward. You just need to open an account, verify it, deposit funds and verify your addresses, and then click the Trade button on your dashboard menu.
Once there you can carry out spot trades by choosing the pair you want. Huobi Singapore also caters to clients with large order requirements by offering high liquidity on OTC brokerage services.
Huobi Singapore Customer Support
Houbi Singapore has a Help Center with articles and guides under the following categories: Getting Started, General, Announcements, Deposit and Withdraw, and Account Management. Users can click any of the listed categories and they’ll have access to various guides. Most of the guides are quite extensive and can certainly solve most of the issues they address.
Houbi Singapore also has a “live chat” feature. This is found under the contact us page. That said, it isn’t a live chat.
Upon accessing the live chat option, a search bar greets you, urging you to articulate your inquiry. Once you’ve entered your query, the live chat system promptly presents a plethora of articles that potentially address your curiosity.
If that doesn’t do it for you, the system then shows you a list of categories and requests that choose which category your query falls under. Next, you’ll have to enter your issue and click submit. At a much later time, you’ll get a response from a human agent and will be notified by email once it happens.
In general, Houbi Singapore offers a self-serve customer support system. However, this isn’t an intuitive one and can end up frustrating users before they find a solution.
Customer Satisfaction
Both Huobi Singapore and Huobi Global, its parent company, have horrible reviews on TrustPilot. The platform detected misuse as a bunch of the reviews are fake (primarily positive reviews). This puts a question mark on Huobi Singapore as too many users have issues with the platform. Most of the complaints are about poor customer service, scam issues, verification challenges, and personal data usage worries.
That said, based on expert analysis, this platform offers very limited cryptocurrency options and trading options. So it at best will satisfy beginner crypto traders.
Does Huobi Singapore offer Education?
No, Huobi Singapore does not offer education.
Is Huobi Right For You?
Huobi Singapore is best for newbie crypto traders searching for a fully regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore.
Final Thoughts
Huobi Singapore is a subsidiary of Huobi Tech owners of Huobi Global. The exchange features just 4 cryptocurrencies and has long usability processes. For example, you can only withdraw your digital assets to another regulated platform. And you also have to verify your wallet addresses to even deposit on the exchange.
So except you are all about regulations, Huobi Singapore can feel very restrictive to seasoned crypto traders who want privacy. There are also little to no additional features as you’d find on other platforms like staking, NFTs, etc. That said, the platform has its perks like low spot trading fees and robust security. In general, Huobi Singapore is a complicated exchange to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Our extensive analysis of the Singaporean Crypto Exchanges doesn’t stop here. You can also read about our Gemini Singapore review as an alternative to Huobi Singapore or you can check out our list of Best Crypto Exchanges Singapore to see which is our top pick.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Huobi was founded by Leon Li on May 15, 2013. Li worked at Oracle as a computer engineer before launching Huobi. Houbi Singapore is owned by Huobi Tech.
No, you cannot trade, deposit, or withdraw on Huobi without verification. Houbi Singapore is fully regulated and adheres to all KYC and AML requirements. This means not only does Huobi demand personal verification, but it also requires that your source and receiving wallet addresses be verified before allowing you to send or receive funds.
To know the Huobi Token (HT) potential you’ll need to understand what the asset is.
Huobi Token is a popular digital asset native to Houbi Global. The token is built on the Ethereum blockchain. It is used for varying types of transactions within Houbi’s Group’s multinational ecosystem.
Houbi Global, the company backing the token, now has offices in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States. It operates in more than 125 countries.
The exchange is currently one of the world’s leading crypto exchanges with competitors like Coinbase and Binance. CoinMarketCap has placed the exchange as the 6th largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of its trading volume.
HT offers various use cases. For example, you can trade it for other popular cryptocurrencies in the market. It also provides the Huobi Global exchange customers with competitive transaction costs. Users holding the token in the platform’s wallets can get up to 65% in trading fee discounts.
The token also brings in passive income as users can stake their Huobi tokens to be a part of new listing projects. In exchange for locking their tokens for a bit, they get rewarded with free airdrops of new tokens.
Based on statements by Huobi Global, HT is limited in supply. There are only 500 million tokens. After the launch of the token, 300 million Huobi coins were distributed to consistent and dedicated traders. This was as a reward for the repurchase of “point cards”. The remaining 200 million tokens are reserved by the Huobi Group for platform operation, team incentives, and user rewards.
The number of tokens in circulation is structured to reduce month by month due to the burning system. This will aid in supporting the price of HT in the market, as well as, ensure low inflation.
The Huobi Group also states that token burn events occur when Huobi buys and destroys the token. The exchange allocates 20% of its revenue every month to repurchase and destroy Huobi Tokens. 15% of its revenues are allocated to burning tokens from circulating supply, with the remaining 5% spent on buying the same for team incentive rewards.
That said, let’s have a look at HT/USD price analysis.
Since its launch, Houbi Token has yielded an ROI of 488.39%, as of January 2022, according to data on CoinMarketCap. According to available price data from 2018, the token rose from $1.20 to $5.95 from the 5th of February to the 5th of June of the same year. This was an increase of 396%. But in the second half of the year, the token dropped to $1.05 and closed the year at $1.07.
The token remained bearish at the start of 2019 and crashed to $0.91 on the 29th of January. By May of 2019, the price rose and it reached $3.33 on the 29th of May and maintained an upward trend till August, peaking at $5.08.
The end of the year brought a drop again, as the price fell to $2.74 in December. In 2020, The token failed to attain new heights and ended the year at $4.31.
From the start of 2021, Houbi Token’s price action became bullish. It attained $25.91 in February, dropped to $12.36 in March, and reached an all-time high of $39.81 in May. However, in July the price dropped to $7.54. At the end of the year, the token was at $9.37.
At the start of 2022, HT had a bearish start dropping to $8.42. As of July 2022, the token dropped further to $4.38.
The price fluctuations show that like any other cryptocurrency, the HT is extremely volatile. So just as with any type of investment, you must perform personal research before investing. You should also keep in mind that every trade is dependent on your expertise in the market, your capacity to sustain losses, risk management, and your investment portfolio. When it comes to cryptocurrencies do not invest what you cannot lose.
Though Huobi Global no longer operates out of Singapore, Singaporean traders can still use the platform via its subsidiary Huobi Singapore. The subsidiary is fully owned by Huobi Technologies and operates with a license in Singapore.
You can withdraw your cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies from Huobi Singapore. To do so, you need to register your receiving wallet address on the platform. This must be a wallet on a regulated cryptocurrency exchange or a private wallet owned by you. After registering your wallet you can send crypto to it. For fiat currencies, you can send it out via wire transfer to your bank account.
Houbi Global is a great exchange for trading as it offers various types of orders, margin trading, futures, cryptocurrency options, etc. Houbi Singapore, on the other hand, offers just 4 cryptocurrencies and simple buy and sell orders. However, it has very low trading fees.
Huobi is currently operating with a license exemption granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act.
Houbi Global is a popular crypto exchange that has been in the industry since 2013. However, Houbi Singapore was just launched in 2021 and still has a long way to go before it can be classed as tier 1.
The crypto exchange Huobi Global released a statement that it was going to stop all services offered to its Singapore-based users. This was just a couple of weeks after the Chinese government shut down cryptocurrencies in the nation, which forced the exchange to terminate all its operations in China.
The announcement made by Huobi Global, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume, revealed that to comply with the laws of Singapore they would have to add the country to their list of restricted countries. The implication of this was that Huobi Global could no longer provide its services to residents of Singapore.
Huobi Global in its announcement went further to state that all accounts of its Singapore-based users will be terminated by March 31, 2022. The exchange also requested that all Singapore-based users take immediate action to terminate their open positions and withdraw all assets before the given date.
That said, Huobi Global also stated that shutting down its services in Singapore was planned as it intended to set up Huobi Singapore. This was to be a new regulated subsidiary of the popular crypto exchange that will be compliant with the nation’s regulation laws.
The primary idea behind Huobi Singapore was to launch a local and international regulated platform for corporate and individual customers.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (the licensing body of cryptocurrency exchanges and financial firms) granted Huobi Singapore an exemption from operating with a license during the period its application under the Payment Services Act is in review.
Depending on your payment method or withdrawal method, your funds will be available within 24 hours of the transaction.
Houbi Singapore stores a major part of your assets in cold storage that’s monitored 24/7. They also only permit withdrawals to registered wallets. This means they can easily trace your funds if it is stolen.
Though Houbi has an office in Singapore at the moment the exchange does not operate out of the country.
Yes, there is a Houbi Android and iOS app for Houbi Global users.
No, margin trades are only supported on Huobi Global.
We always try to provide the most accurate information available, and make sure our team follow through.
If you want to know more about our Crypto Exchanges Review Methodology follow the link below
Skrumble.com provides all its content for informational purposes only, and this should not be taken as financial advice to buy, trade, or sell any investment instruments or products, including but not limited to cryptocurrencies, or use any specific exchange. Please do not use this website as investment advice, financial advice, or legal advice, and each individual’s needs may vary from that of the author. Investing in financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies, carries a high risk and is not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose the entire initial investment, so do not invest what you cannot afford to lose. We strongly advise conducting your own research before making any investment decisions. This post includes affiliate links with our partners who may compensate us.
To view our privacy policy read here.
