Two of China’s largest Crypto Exchanges seem to have discovered a legal way to foster crypto trade without breaking the law. Huobi Pro, the Chinese giant Huobi has launched a P2P trading platform called Huobi Pro. OkEx, an internationally operating body of Okcoin, has launched its own P2P trading platform. It will accept a wide range of fiat currencies in addition to CNY. These P2P trading platforms were launched by Huobi and Okcoin through international affiliate companies. They then relocated their operations to China in order to remain active under the cryptocurrency stringency.
Lennix Lei, Okex’s financial market director, stated that “centralized order-book exchange models are still the mainstay of [the] crypto industry.” The changing regulatory environment has created uncertainty in the crypto market. Some countries have stopped using the exchange model .”
Mr. Lai describes the decision to launch a P2P trading platform with the desire to “better serve [its] clients around the world.” It was also made clear that Okex will be a viable market for futures contracts in Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum Classic.
Okex claims to have developed a unique “market maker model” for their P2P crypto-exchange platform. It states that it will “reduce[s ]… counterparty risk]” in P2P transactions. Okex explained that “when the buyer/seller places an order, market maker would step in and become the counterparty buyer/seller – with the consideration of their own net exposure – therefore, the counterparty risk will be diversified.”
The company added that “all licensed market makers” will be subject to a rigorous selection process by Okex. Cnledger reported the Okex intention to launch a cryptocurrency platform built on P2P architecture. On the 29th October, they posted that “Okex” (and possibly Huobi-Pro), would soon launch P2P Bitcoin tradings with different fiat currencies support.
Huobi Pro’s operations were launched on the 28th July. The initial trading platform was set up to trade ETH/BTC or LTC/BTC as well as ETC/BTC. Huobi Pro, in stark contrast to Okex did not introduce fiat trading options. Instead, the platform introduced pairs for ETH/USDT or BTC/USDT pairs at 26 Oct., LTC/USDT at the next day and ETC/USDT to 31 Oct. Huobi founder Leon Li described the end of Huobi’s crypto exchange platform as . It was “not only an important milestone for Huobi but also a watershed moment in the history of Chinese cryptocurrency assets.” In keeping with market developments, Huobi has divided its activity into six businesses, including Huobi Pro.
