On October 21, Li Lin, founder of Huobi Group, issued an all-staff letter announcing the return of co-founder Du Jun.
Du Jun co-founded Huobi with Li Lin in 2013. Three years later, he left Huobi to launch the industry media platform Jinse Finance and the investment firm Node Capital. Now, nearly four years later, he has chosen to rejoin Huobi.
In his open letter, Li Lin stated that Du Jun had never truly left Huobi—though residing overseas, he frequently offered strategic advice and suggestions for Huobi’s development.
Meanwhile, recent regulatory uncertainty has led to investigations targeting several major exchanges, including BitMEX and OKEx.
At this critical juncture, why did Du Jun choose to return? Are users’ funds held on Huobi still safe? Should users fear having their bank cards frozen? During the ChainNode AMA session held on the afternoon of November 3, Du Jun addressed these community concerns one by one.
Below are highlights from this AMA:
Why return now?
Du Jun: Over the past two years, blockchain technology has gained increasing development and recognition both in China and internationally, exerting a profound impact on global economies and financial systems. I remain steadfastly bullish on blockchain technology and the broader industry. Huobi is one of the earliest explorers and builders in the blockchain space. During the years since my departure, Huobi has grown rapidly and achieved numerous milestones across multiple countries. Many of my core beliefs align closely with Li Lin’s. I hope to rejoin this collective and collaborate with like-minded individuals to realize our shared vision.
How does Huobi manage private keys?
Du Jun: Regarding asset custody, Huobi Wallet employs multi-signature and threshold signature technologies to ensure security during private key signing processes. Private keys are backed up across multiple people and geographies to guarantee availability, while proprietary secure hardware ensures storage robustness. Strict operational protocols—including standardized workflows, principle of least privilege, and back-to-back isolation among personnel—secure every operational step. Both technical architecture and procedural design eliminate reliance on any single individual’s permissions or actions. Huobi currently has 15 private key holders operating under a multi-signature scheme, ensuring platform fund security remains unaffected even if one or several holders encounter issues.
How does Huobi ensure user fund security?
Du Jun: Concerning anti-money laundering (AML), we maintain a comprehensive risk control framework. In practice, we first holistically assess various risk factors indicating potential money laundering activities by customers, then implement reasonable monitoring measures—including enhancing customer identity verification capabilities, periodically reviewing stored customer information, and continuously monitoring customer risk ratings. Based on each customer’s risk rating, we correspondingly raise review standards. For users confirmed—either via automated risk detection systems or manual verification by AML staff—to have directly participated in or assisted illegal activities such as money laundering, we permanently restrict all functions of their accounts and associated accounts. Not touching user assets is a non-negotiable operational red line at Huobi. Li Lin personally established several ironclad rules: never touch user assets; never interfere with market operations; never act as a counterparty to users; strictly honor contractual obligations. Beyond these rules lies Huobi’s “Don’t Be Evil” value system. Values shape team self-discipline and commitment to long-term value creation. Operating within an early-stage, chaotic industry environment, we must not relax internal constraints simply because clear regulatory requirements are absent. The less regulation exists, the more essential self-regulation becomes; the larger our scale grows, the greater our reverence for the market must be.
Why do card-freezing incidents recur so frequently?
Du Jun: Card freezing has become increasingly common across many industries—notably in internet finance and foreign trade sectors, where high-frequency freezing incidents have recently surged. KYC requirements are now exceptionally stringent across all finance-adjacent industries. However, gray- and black-market activities primarily originate at the consumer (C) end, making C-end prevention significantly more challenging than B-end controls. Illicit trading of ID documents, bank cards, and mobile SIM cards is rampant, rendering point-to-point enforcement extremely difficult. Nevertheless, we’ve implemented numerous rigorous risk control measures at the user onboarding stage. Several effective OTC anti-freeze strategies exist: users should consciously avoid all forms of illegal activity—including acting as intermediaries for purchases (“proxy buying”) and “score farming” (“pao fen”). Users should also steer clear of participating in pyramid schemes, capital pool scams, or fiat arbitrage on small platforms. During transactions, strict KYC compliance is mandatory, and users must reject non-real-name transfers. Huobi was actually the first exchange in the industry to integrate facial recognition verification, which triggers automatically across multiple scenarios—including suspicious OTC trades, fund transfers, and withdrawals. These routine maintenance and defensive mechanisms go unnoticed by ordinary users unless a sensitive freeze-triggering condition is met at a specific step. Regarding the current wave of card freezes, my advice is not to panic excessively. From what I understand, most affected users regain access to their cards within three days; many cases involve mistaken freezes. Genuine involvement in illicit activities resulting in six-month card freezes remains exceedingly rare.
DeFi vs. CeFi: Which is stronger?
Du Jun: I believe DeFi and CeFi both exist to fulfill user needs—their difference lies solely in service delivery models. CeFi better serves complex financial scenarios, leveraging human judgment and experience to deliver superior credit and risk assessments, while offering advantages in product flexibility and liquidity. DeFi, conversely, excels in simpler, automated use cases—such as digital asset collateralized lending. Under straightforward models, DeFi enhances process efficiency and reduces costs. Their coexistence reflects complementary strengths rather than competition. To serve users better, both ecosystems must learn from each other’s unique advantages.
What are the similarities and differences between domestic and international cryptocurrency regulations? How does Huobi mitigate regulatory risks?
Du Jun: The global crypto market’s trajectory toward regulatory compliance is becoming increasingly clear. Many jurisdictions have already issued licenses, and Bitcoin is now accepted across numerous payment scenarios in multiple countries. Compliance-first is a universal imperative. Huobi currently holds relevant digital finance business licenses in the United States, Japan, multiple European countries, Hong Kong (China), Thailand, and other regions. For example, in Japan, we hold Exchange License No. 0007; in Europe, Huobi obtained Gibraltar’s DLT license, enabling compliant blockchain asset trading across the region; in Thailand, Huobi Thailand secured the Thai government’s fifth official compliant exchange license. Applications for additional licenses in other jurisdictions remain underway.