China's crypto magnate to play a major role in the creation of the local crypto industry

The founder of Huobi Group, Leon Li, is an individual in a unique position in China — a crypto mogul who has a chance to participate in the creation of the Chinese crypto industry. With China’s well-known negative stance towards ‘traditional’ crypto, it is truly rare for the country to appreciate someone who has a direct connection to digital currencies. Leon Li started his crypto career as one of the coders for Oracle Corp before he went on to create one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world, Huobi. Thanks to his careful, measured expansion and methodical engagement, he found himself in a position where he now has an unusual level of access to the country’s government and central bank. He achieved this by discouraging speculation during the days of Bitcoin’s rapid expansion, after allegedly receiving word of the pending crackdown. Meanwhile, his competitors, such as OKEx and Binance, did everything they could to try and profit from BTC mania. Along the way, Li even managed to co-found China’s first state-backed blockchain platform. Finally, he set up a Communist Party committee for Huobi.

Huobi to lead China, while China leads the blockchain industry

These moves, while undoubtedly unusual at the time, earned him the trust from the country’s government. So, when China decided to launch a local alternative to Facebook’s Libra and foreign CBDCs, they turned to Li for help. And, as foreign forces attempted to contain China’s blockchain development, Beijing became that much more resolved not to allow it. Li hopes that China could finally become a leading nation when it comes to blockchain and earn a high-ranking place in this technology’s history. Thanks to his calculated moves, Li managed to remain on Beijing’s ‘good side,’ which earned him the chance to keep his exchange and become the country’s consultant on Libra. Meanwhile, Huobi was free to explore blockchain’s depths and discover how it could serve the real economy.