Crypto analyst and entrepreneur Willy Woo has shared data that suggests one of the major and oldest crypto exchanges, Huobi, owned by Justin Sun, may have a very low level of Bitcoin collateral.
Woo tweeted that his systems monitor Bitcoin collateral 24/7, and last week, it spotted that this metric reached a risk level for Huobi. The analyst even suggested that this may soon result in a bank run for the exchange.
Huobi BTC collateral starting to look dangerously low and in danger of a bank run.
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) July 12, 2023
Our systems monitor collateral at exchanges with 24/7 team coverage, our risk limits got hit for Huobi last week.
Chart: Huobi BTC collateral over time (as a percentage of peak balances). pic.twitter.com/OgIB4bwGcp
Woo also shared a chart that shows Huobi Bitcoin reserves dropping this year. It saw a major decline on May 25 and then a sharp drop on July 7.
About a week ago, Woo also tweeted about Huobi, comparing the platform to "a slow-moving train wreck, nearing its final throws." Woo shared that in 2022, Huobi's BTC reserves constituted 220,000 BTC; however, now this figure has dropped to 26,000 BTC, seeing a loss of almost 94%.
He pointed out that the balances of Ethereum and USDT have also been declining. Besides, per his earlier tweet, web traffic inflow to Huobi has taken a "decent hit," adding that the exchange has been forced out of many jurisdictions due to its lack of compliance. Huobi is mainly being used by customers from India, South Korea, Mexico, Russia and other third-world countries.
The only crypto exchange that has so far experienced a bank run was the battered FTX platform, along with its founder and CEO, former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. It happened in early November last year and made shock waves on the crypto market, pushing Bitcoin and the prices of other cryptocurrencies deep into the red zone. Now, this exchange is considering a restart.
Arman Shirinyan
Alex Dovbnya
Gamza Khanzadaev
