Huobi dismisses plunging stablecoin reserves as ‘FUD’

Exchange spokesperson refuted claims that any team members have been detained by Chinese authorities

article-image

Grey82/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Following speculation that Chinese officials detained some Huobi executives, the crypto exchange’s stablecoin reserves have dwindled as much as 34% in the past week.

Local Chinese media reported that law enforcement detained at least three Huobi executives. Allegedly, some employees were sent an urgent notification advising them to depart the country at the earliest.

Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, relayed information he alleges came directly from a high-ranking executive at Tron, stating that team members were facing a criminal probe tied to activities associated with Huobi.

Loading Tweet..

DefiLlama data indicates that between Aug. 1 and 7, Huobi’s USDT balances saw a significant decrease of $40 million. As of Monday, the total value locked in Huobi was at $2.4 billion, marking a decline from its $3 billion position at the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, Nansen reported that Huobi’s net outflows, excluding bitcoin, amounted to $32.9 million in the past 24 hours, a figure representing 1% of the total assets currently held by the exchange.

Loading Tweet..

A Huobi spokesperson denied any allegations of team member arrests, and said the company contacted “all original sources of misinformation” requesting them to retract or correct their statements.

Additionally, they dismissed claims of significant outflows, asserting that the data provided by DefiLlama was not accurate.

“Please check out Nansen, which has the most updated and accurate real-time data, the relevant team is working with DefiLlama to update their data tracking,” they told Blockworks via email.

Separately on Monday, Justin Sun, a member of Huobi’s global advisory board, called on observers to disregard the FUD.

“#TRON and #Huobi will thrive through continuous development,” he wrote. “Trust in our vision and community efforts for a stronger future.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Marina Bay Sands Singapore

October 7, 2026

DAS Asia is a a single-day summit at Marina Bay Sands Singapore featuring conversations between the builders, investors, and global leaders are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in Asia & North America.

Hilton Park Lane, London

November 10-11, 2026

DAS London is a two-day summit at the Hilton Park Lane in London featuring conversations between the builders, allocators, and policy makers who are shaping the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the UK, Europe, and North America.

recent research

Sponsored Article Template - HL White@2x.png

Research

Hyperliquid’s TradeXYZ markets provide 24/7 perpetual exposure to equities, commodities, FX and pre-IPO assets. Across 614 market-weekends in 68 markets, the final weekend price was closer to the recovered post-reopen reference in 70.7% of cases, reducing median forecast error by 53%. The results indicate that these markets provide meaningful price discovery while traditional venues are closed.

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Blockworks Research

Unlock crypto's most powerful research platform.

Our research packs a punch and gives you actionable takeaways for each topic.

SubscribeGet in touch

Blockworks Inc.

133 W 19th St., New York, NY 10011

Blockworks Network

PodcastsNewslettersEventsRoundtablesAnalytics