Huobi’s Stablecoin Is Alive Again, $5M HUSD Minted in Last Week

Huobi USD (HUSD) is a relatively unknown stablecoin for which data is hard to come by. The project was announced in late 2018 as an attempt by Huobi to eat up a larger share of the market with its own stablecoin. The asset fizzled out by 2019, but recent activity suggests that it is now being revived.

HUSD Wakes Up

In just the past week, Huobi has minted three separate batches of HUSD—something rarely ever seen on Whale Alert (@whale_alert). Most recently, Huobi minted another 1,090,075 HUSD on Friday.

💵 1,090,075 #HUSD (1,090,075 USD) minted at Huobi

Tx: https://t.co/YpyU8d5cRY

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) February 14, 2020

The exchange also minted 2,013,945 HUSD on February 7th and another 1,950,000 HUSD on February 8th.

💵 2,013,945 #HUSD (2,013,945 USD) minted at Huobi

Tx: https://t.co/kv0ZL8FkP7

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) February 7, 2020

💵 1,950,000 #HUSD (1,950,000 USD) minted at Huobi

Tx: https://t.co/EDQlLKMhhD

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) February 8, 2020

The rare minting might be indicative of changing strategies at Huobi. Given that Binance is currently bogged down with Tether (USDT) woes, an exchange benefits when its traders prefer the exchange’s own stablecoin. Given how lackluster other exchange tokens have been, however, HUSD will find it hard to establish itself. Both Binance USD (BUSD) and Gemini Dollar (GUSD) have struggled in the face of Tether’s dominance.

The Token Continues to Rise

Connections have been made with the recent HUSD mintings and the price of Huobi Token. The exchange token has seen remarkable growth thus far in 2020, and many believe this token issuing may boost it further. As BeInCrypto has previously reported, exchange tokens led the entire market in gains in January.  Currently, Huobi Token (HT) has a market capitalization of $1.1B, thus making it the second-largest exchange token. Since the start of the year, HT bested most of the market. HT was just $2.80 on January 1st, 2020, but is currently trading at $4.89. With new HUSD set to enter the market shortly, this may provide more fuel to boost Huobi Token further. It now seems that the exchange is trying to compete with Binance directly, and we could see new exchange rivalries emerge as the year goes on. The stablecoin war between HUSD and others is just part of the competition.