HTX agrees to leave UK and halt promotions in FCA settlement
The exchange will stop marketing to British consumers until 2031 after the regulator brought its first enforcement case over crypto advertising rules.
Key takeaways
- 1HTX will stop UK promotions until October 2031 under court undertakings
- 2Existing UK users have a 48-hour window to withdraw assets before account closure
- 3The settlement follows separate UK and EU sanctions on Huobi Global in 2026
- 4The FCA case is the first enforcement action over crypto marketing rules
HTX agreed to leave the United Kingdom and stop promoting its services to British consumers on 29 October. The settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ends the regulator’s first enforcement action against a crypto firm for breaking marketing rules.
Under court undertakings that run until October 2031, the Panama-registered Huobi Global S.A. promised not to run illegal promotions through its website, apps, or social media. The FCA said the exchange is no longer active in Britain. New users cannot register and deposits are blocked.
Existing customers have a 48-hour window to withdraw their assets before their accounts are closed. The regulator said the settlement terms are confidential and do not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing. It did not say whether HTX paid a fine.
The FCA said HTX had failed to engage over several rounds of talks before the settlement was reached. The regulator brought the case in October 2025 and announced it in February. Steve Smart, the FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said being based overseas does not protect firms from UK law.
HTX said it has changed its operations to align with UK regulations. The exchange is linked to Tron founder Justin Sun, who acts as an adviser. The company has previously denied allegations related to UK and EU sanctions imposed earlier this year over suspected support for the Russian financial sector.
The UK sanctioned Huobi Global in May 2026, and the EU followed with a transaction ban in July. HTX has maintained that Huobi Global S.A. is a separate entity from the online exchange. In August, Kraken reported that 12,000 transfers from a wallet linked to HTX caused operational disruptions for its users.
Justin Sun has recently been involved in other legal matters, including a lawsuit against World Liberty Financial over frozen tokens. The company filed a defamation suit against him in May, which Sun denied. Bitcoin was trading at $79,998 at the time of the FCA announcement, according to YourKhabri data.
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