Huobi Token Down 11% on Reports of Layoffs, Internal Strife at Company

Reports that Huobi is dramatically cutting headcount, requiring employees to take their salaries in stablecoins, and closing internal staff communication channels to quell a rebellion have taken a toll on its exchange token and trading volume.

CoinGecko data shows that Huobi’s HT token has fallen by nearly 11% during the last 24 hours, to $4.67 as of morning East Asia time. The token is down nearly 30% over the past month.

During the last 24 hours, the measurement of normalized volume at the exchange is down 23% to $395 million from $510 million.

News of the layoffs and requirement to take salary in stablecoins was first reported by Colin Wu at WuBlockchain. WuBlockchain reported that those employees who refused to accept being paid in crypto would be dismissed, raising concerns throughout the workforce. Others on Twitter reported that staff had been locked out of internal communications channels.

In an interview with Hong Kong’s SCMP, Sun has denied the Huobi layoffs. Media representatives did not respond to CoinDesk requests for comment about staffing issues.

Concern has also mounted about the quality of Huobi’s reserves post-FTX. A recent report from CryptoQuant shows that of all the exchanges, Huobi relies most on its own token to denominate its reserves. About 60% of its reserves are based on things other than its token. Of all exchanges, OKX and Derebit have the ‘cleanest’ reserves, coming in at 100%, according to CryptoQuant.