Former Huobi Executive Floats New Cryptocurrency Exchange in Singapore

It would seem that tech entrepreneurs like James Ju aren’t put off by the current state of the cryptocurrency market, so much so that he has rounded up a group of investors to fund his latest venture of opening a crypto exchange.

Ju, who worked as the Chief Technical Officer at Huobi, recently announced that he would be launching a cryptocurrency exchange by the end the year. The exchange, which will be called BHEX, raised $15 million in equity from a wide array of institutions (such as OKEx and Huobi, Ju’s former employers). The exchange also ran a token round, which attracted high profile funds including DHVC, Dfund, BlockVC and Genesis Capital.

According to its press release, the founding members of the crypto trading platform BHEX bring extensive experience from “first-tier technology and financial companies” including Google, Alibaba, and others.

Ju explained that the Blue Helix technology would be open-source, once development is completed. With this technology, BHEX will be able to create a community-managed custody and clearing managed system.

BHEX is touted as a next-generation digital asset trading platform, which would be powered by the decentralized asset custody and clearing technology developed by Blue Helix, a company Ju also controls. The exchange is establishing offices in Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The digital asset platform will provide crypto-to-crypto trading, as well as over-the-counter (OTC) options and pairs of fiat currencies. Fiat to crypto option in Yuan (CNY) will be available, and this is seen as a major advantage to Chinese crypto enthusiasts who are banned from trading within the borders of their country.

A former executive at Huobi, Ju was instrumental in the redesigning and upgrade of Huobi’s crypto trading system, streamlining the processes and making it easier for traders to use, propelling the exchange to the world’s largest exchange by trade volume. On leaving Huobi, Ju was hired as Vice President of Technology at X Financial, a financial service provider that is listed on the NYSE. Not satisfied with his achievement in the crypto sector, Ju left X Financial to start Blue Helix, a crypto-based firm which aimed to develop a new digital asset custody and trading system.

Ju’s team at Huobi also included Tyler Wu, the current Global Managing Director at BHEX. At Huobi, Wu served as the Managing Director of the company in Singapore.