HTX, the crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi, has stopped operating in the United Kingdom. The exit did not come through a routine closure announcement. It arrived through a legal settlement, announced by the Financial Conduct Authority on 29 October 2026, in which the regulator secured High Court undertakings that stop the firm from knowingly promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers.
The case is worth reading closely because of the gap between what the undertakings do and what they do not prove. The FCA first took legal action against HTX in October 2025 for breaking UK financial promotion rules. The regulator said the firm had failed repeatedly to engage with it, and only after proceedings were under way did HTX begin taking steps to leave the UK. Proceedings were formally commenced in the Business and Property Division of the High Court on 21 October 2025, although the FCA did not announce its enforcement action publicly until 10 February 2026.
The named defendant is Huobi Global S.A., the operating company that carried the Huobi brand before the platform rebranded. The regulator framed the case against that offshore structure rather than a UK-licensed subsidiary, which is the point: its jurisdiction argument turned on promotions reaching UK consumers from abroad.
Under the terms, Huobi Global S.A. will not knowingly, directly or indirectly, communicate a financial promotion in contravention of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. That restriction covers the HTX website, its software applications and its social media accounts. Section 21 is the statutory ban on invitations or inducements to engage in investment activity in the course of business, and it is the mechanism that lets a regulator pursue an overseas operator over UK-facing marketing even when its trading systems sit elsewhere.
For UK customers the effect is immediate. HTX is no longer active in the UK, consumers can no longer make deposits, and new UK users cannot sign up. The regulator directed users to HTX’s own website for information on withdrawing residual assets.
The terms of the settlement are confidential, and the FCA stated that it does not constitute an admission of liability or wrongdoing by Huobi Global or any other person or entity. No fine was announced. The undertakings restrain future conduct; they do not establish that past promotions broke the rules. HTX described the move as an orderly exit, while the FCA described it as enforcement. Both framings can be true at once.
Steve Smart, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, made the deterrent message explicit: “Crypto firms should be under no illusion: being based overseas does not put them beyond the reach of UK law.” The regulator also reminded consumers that crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK, except for anti-money-laundering and financial-promotion rules, until October 2027.
For users, the practical step is unchanged: check a firm’s permissions on the FCA Firm Checker before sending money, and treat cryptoassets as high-risk investments.
Adapted from HTX Exits the UK After FCA Settlement Over Crypto Promotions.