Huobi Exchange's Plans for Russia Go Well Beyond Crypto Trading

Huobi, the third-largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, is seeking to fill a void in Russia's cryptocurrency community.

To attract as many new users as possible, Huobi Russia is offering commissions lower than 0.1 percent for users who trade more than 50 bitcoin in two weeks during November, the company's website says.

Users will get a monthly "Cash back" reward, Grachev said: 20 percent of trading fees users pay on the exchange will come back to their account in the form of Huobi tokens, which then can be used on the platform to pay for services, or cashed out.

Initially, Huobi's plans were even more ambitious: the exchange wanted to enable deposits in Russian roubles, but the local experts said it's a bad idea.

Russian users will be able to buy cryptocurrency for roubles using the exchange's Huobi OTC service, and seamlessly transfer it to their trading accounts, Grachev told CoinDesk.

The OTC platform is online, but it has too few users from Russia so far, so Huobi plans to lure local OTC traders with commission rates lower than on other OTC platforms, Grachev said.

In August, Huobi signed up with the VEB's Center of Digital Transformations and has been providing expertise that will be adapted for Russia by local experts and used in the development of future regulation in the country, Demin said.

In addition to opening the Moscow office, Huobi will train blockchain entrepreneurs attending a special program for blockchain startups at Plekhanov University of Economics, one of the top Russian universities.

Huobi's further plans in Russia include offering loans for miners to buy specialized mining chips, or ASICs, and space for them to rent, Grachev said.

Coming to Russia is a part of larger expansion plans by Huobi: in August, the exchange announced plans to open offices in the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Canada, South China Morning Post reported.