Through its Hbit subsidiary, Sinohope, a Hong Kong investment holdings business founded by Leon Li, a co-founder of the Huobi (HTX) exchange, will retrieve over 100% of its blocked deposits on the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. A May 24 notice that started making the rounds on May 28 states that Hbit has sold debt investment business Ceratosaurus Investors LLC $19.5 million worth of creditor claims. Sinohope had deposits totaling $18.1 million trapped on FTX at the time of its collapse in November 2022. A 108% recovery ratio of the company’s assets is implied by the deal.
Sinohope was materially impacted by the unreturned funds. On Dec. 13, 2023, the firm disclosed that it expects a loss of $280 million Hong Kong dollars ($35.86 million) for the first nine months of the year, an increase from $200 million Hong Kong dollars ($25.61 million) it lost during the same period in 2022.
Enterprise deposits worth $86 million Hong Kong dollars ($11 million) that were frozen on the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX were among the losses. Leon Li had to personally provide a $14 million personal line of credit to save the company in order to assist Sinohope clients who were impacted by FTX’s failure. Leon Li’s second firm, X-Spot Global, obtained an injunction against Huobi Global on December 11, 2023, compelling the latter to stop using the Chinese version of the “Huobi” trademark in Hong Kong.
The Huobi trademark was registered in Hong Kong in 2019, according to documents submitted to the court. The company About Capital Management, which is connected to Chinese blockchain celebrity Justin Sun, purchased Huobi Global from co-founders Leon Li and Du Jun in September 2022. Before the acquisition, though, Leon Li’s X-Spot Global had already received complete ownership of the Chinese-language Huobi trademark, making it its owner. Next, in September of last year, Huobi changed its name to HTX.Claim values of FTX creditors, many of which are in cryptocurrency, have surged in reaction to a substantial increase in cryptocurrency prices during the current bull market. Between 129% and 143% are the current estimations for FTX’s claims recovery.