HTX
low trust · scored on blocks worth 75 of 100 points
Affiliate link: we may be paid. It does not affect the score. 18+ only.
What people say
Ratings from our readers and fresh reviews from the exchange app's users.
Freekonomist readers' ratings
Give the exchange 1 to 5 stars and say briefly why. One rating per account, you can change it. Not part of the score.
Licences
0 / 25Where the exchange is legal: licences and registrations from regulators' registers, minus bans and fines.
Confirmed in regulators' registers
No licence or registration in the registers we checked.
Claimed, not confirmed in a register
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emiratesin-principle approvalVARA · Huobi Investment FZEsource ↗
- 🇦🇺 AustraliaregistrationAUSTRAC · Huobi (Australian entity)source ↗
- 🇵🇰 PakistanpendingPVARA · HTXsource ↗
- 🇺🇸 United StatesregistrationFinCEN · Huobi Foundation (Denver, CO)source ↗
Regulator actions
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdomban · 2026-05May 2026: UK designated Huobi Global S.A. (HTX's managing entity) under Russia sanctions (UK Sanctions List RUS3619): asset freeze; OFSI says HTX exchange is subject to UK sanctionssource ↗
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdomwarning · 2026-02Oct 2023: FCA Warning List (HTX / Huobi Global); Oct 2025 FCA High Court proceedings over illegal financial promotions, announced Feb 2026source ↗
- 🇵🇭 Philippineswarning · 2026-04Apr 2026: Philippine SEC advisory against HTX / Huobi Global Limited / Huobi Global S.A. as unregistered, no CASP authorisationsource ↗
- 🇲🇾 Malaysiaban · 2023-05May 2023: SC Malaysia public reprimand of Huobi Global Ltd and CEO Leon Li, ordered to cease DAX operations and disable website/apps (on Investor Alert List since Aug 2022)source ↗
- 🇮🇳 Indiawarning · 2023-12Dec 2023: FIU-IND show-cause notice to Huobi (Huobi Global Limited) for operating without FIU registration; URL blocking requestedsource ↗
- 🇹🇭 Thailandban · 2022-07Sep 2021: Thai SEC proposed revocation of Huobi (Thailand) licence after failing to fix systems; licence revoked and unit closed Jun-Jul 2022source ↗
Does not serve, by its own terms
🇺🇸 United States🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇪🇺 European Union🇷🇺 Russia🇨🇳 China🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China🇸🇬 Singapore🇲🇲 Myanmar (Burma)🇨🇺 Cuba🇮🇷 Iran🇰🇵 North Korea🇸🇩 Sudan🇸🇾 Syria🇻🇪 Venezuela🇺🇦 Ukraine
Reserves
16 / 20Proof of reserves: is there one, who checked it, how fresh it is and whether coins cover every client balance.
Security
6 / 15Past hacks and whether clients were made whole, the insurance fund.
Hacks
- 2023-09-24$7.9M · clients made wholeAttackers drained 5,000 ETH (about $7.9M) from an HTX hot wallet via a leaked key; the funds were returned two weeks later for a 250 ETH bounty.source ↗
- 2023-11-22$26.2M · clients made wholeHTX hot wallets on Ethereum and TRON lost about $26.2M alongside the ~$87M Heco Bridge exploit (total ~$113M); Justin Sun pledged full compensation.source ↗
Insurance fund
The exchange does not disclose an insurance fund. source ↗
Liquidity
9.7 / 15Real BTC order-book depth within ±2% and futures open interest.
What people say
no dataApp Store ratings across countries, weighted by the number of reviews.
Reviews elsewhere: Trustpilot ↗ · Reddit ↗ · Google Play ↗
Opinion leaders
no dataWhat the opinion leaders from our Sentiment page write about it: the share of complaints among mentions over 90 days.
The opinion leaders have not mentioned this exchange yet. The block fills itself: we follow their posts every hour.
API reliability
no dataOur own check: does the exchange API answer, over 30 days.
Collecting checks: we need at least 10, now 1.
How we score
- Licences · 25 points. Where the exchange is legal: licences and registrations from regulators' registers, minus bans and fines.
- Reserves · 20 points. Proof of reserves: is there one, who checked it, how fresh it is and whether coins cover every client balance.
- Security · 15 points. Past hacks and whether clients were made whole, the insurance fund.
- Liquidity · 15 points. Real BTC order-book depth within ±2% and futures open interest.
- What people say · 10 points. App Store ratings across countries, weighted by the number of reviews.
- Opinion leaders · 10 points. What the opinion leaders from our Sentiment page write about it: the share of complaints among mentions over 90 days.
- API reliability · 5 points. Our own check: does the exchange API answer, over 30 days.
Licences: a full licence in the EU (MiCA), UK, US, UAE, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Korea, Australia or Switzerland gives 5 points, a full licence elsewhere 3, a registration (such as FinCEN or AUSTRAC) 1.5, an application or in-principle approval 0.5. Each country counts its best entry, and only if confirmed in the regulator's register. Every regulator ban, fine or warning in the last 3 years costs 2 points, at most 8 in total.
Reserves: a published proof of reserves gives 4 points; zk proof 6, audited Merkle tree or audited filings of a listed company 4, unaudited tree 2; a snapshot under 45 days old 4, under 90 days 2; the lowest coverage among BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC at 100%+ gives 6, at 95%+ gives 3.
Security: 10 points minus 2 for each hack where clients were made whole and minus 6 where they were not; hacks older than 5 years count half. Plus 5 if the insurance fund can be checked via API or on-chain, 3 if the exchange only publishes the amount.
When a block has no data yet it is left out and the total is rescaled to 100 over the blocks we have. Our readers' ratings are shown separately and do not enter the score, so they cannot be gamed.
Sources: regulators' registers (ESMA, FinCEN, AUSTRAC, VARA, MAS and others), the exchanges' proof of reserves pages, Powered by CoinGecko (depth and open interest), Apple App Store, the exchanges' public APIs, mempool.space, opinion leaders' posts on X. Licences checked 2026-10-21, data updated .
Partnerships do not affect the scores. We have affiliate links with some of these exchanges and may be paid if you sign up. A script computes the scores from public data with the same rules for all; the method and sources are below. Not investment advice. Trading crypto, especially with leverage, is high risk. 18+ only.