HTX runs a birthday campaign while FCA and EU sanctions close in

HTX is fighting a regulatory battle on two fronts this month, and running a birthday party through the middle of it. The exchange, formerly known as Huobi, is negotiating a late-August settlement deadline with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority while absorbing EU sanctions that pushed Binance and 15 other platforms to cut off transactions with it, The Block reported.

The FCA lawsuit, filed against Panama-incorporated Huobi Global last October, alleges HTX illegally promoted crypto services to UK consumers in violation of rules that have applied to cryptoassets since 2023. The regulator has also accused the exchange of an "opaque operational structure" and said HTX ignored repeated attempts to engage. Settlement talks started in March, got extended on June 25, and London's High Court has paused the case to give both sides until late August to reach a deal, per a Yahoo Finance report. An HTX spokesperson said the company "remains dedicated to upholding high standards of compliance, transparency, and user protection."

These measures are necessary to meet those requirements and maintain safety.

The sanctions track runs on a separate clock. The EU designated HTX in July over allegations it helped Russia dodge sanctions tied to the invasion of Ukraine, specifically by providing financial services to A7 Limited, a Russia-linked payments firm. The UK had already designated Huobi Global S.A. on May 26, and the EU's own sanctions took effect August 23, formally banning transactions with HTX.

• FCA lawsuit filed: October (against Huobi Global)
• FCA formal accusation: February
• Settlement talks extended: June 25
• Settlement deadline: late August
• UK sanctions designation: May 26
• EU sanctions effective: August 23
• Exchanges Binance blocked in the sanctions rollout: 16, including HTX

The sanctions designation created a second, messier problem. Automated compliance systems at other exchanges started flagging any wallet that had ever touched an HTX address, even from tiny, unsolicited transfers, and freezing the accounts behind them. One Coinbase user got roughly 7.5 USDT from an HTX-linked wallet and was told the account could close if they couldn't explain it, CryptoTimes reported. An HTX representative named Molly said the company "had not carried out any related transfers or testing activities" and would investigate where the deposits came from. Similar sanctions exposure hit Shelbit, one of the other exchanges in Binance's same blocklist.

Set against that timeline, HTX has been running a 13th-anniversary campaign called "Resilience Reveals the Future," promoted in an HTX-linked article that reports more than 120,000 self-disclosed rewards handed out through a point system built around 13 "Future Gems" and daily red packets at 13:13 UTC+8. None of those numbers, including the rewards count and the claimed "tens of thousands" of daily deposit and withdrawal orders, come from an independent source. HTX owner Justin Sun addressed the sanctions directly: "This matter concerns only Binance's UK and EU users. HTX does not conduct business in the UK or EU."

The anniversary push runs through the same weeks as the FCA deadline and the sanctions rollout, and HTX chose that timing for its own reasons. Whether "everything is fine" holds up depends less on a marketing campaign than on what happens in a London courtroom and how many more small transfers show up flagged on other platforms in the coming weeks. HTX's FCA situation echoes the broader crypto-compliance questions Intokened has tracked in coverage of Robinhood's own UK registration ahead of the same rule set.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.