The launch of the Huobi Token follows in the footsteps of other loyalty-building tokens that other exchanges have launched. The first and most successful of these tokens has been\u00a0<\/span>Binance Coin (BNB)<\/span><\/a>. The creation of BNB secured Binance\u2019s place as the world\u2019s leading exchange. It offered discounted trading fees in exchange for customer loyalty, primarily functioning as a loyalty rewards system. However, as demand for Binance Coin grew, so too did its price. Binance is still the largest exchange in the world, and the BNB token sits firmly in the top twenty cryptocurrencies.<\/span><\/p>\n Since Huobi is the third-largest crypto-exchange, the creators of the Huobi Token are hoping for a similar level of success. To reach that level, they\u2019ve added extra benefits to the Huobi Token offering above and beyond the roadmap set by BNB. Additionally, they\u2019ve structured the token distribution slightly differently. This article will explore all those benefits, details, and more to create a comprehensive guide to the Huobi Token.<\/span><\/p>\n [thrive_leads id=’5219′]<\/p>\n Huobi officially <\/span>announced its intentions<\/span><\/a> to launch a new token on January 22, 2018. Over the course of 15 days, Huobi would distribute 300 million HT (60% of the total supply) to its pro users who purchased a discounted service package. Each morning, a new batch of HT would become available on a first come, first served basis. Huobi declared this token distribution scheme, \u201cnot an ICO,\u201d due to the nature of the offering. Users are buying a specific service package, part of which includes HT that give a discount toward trading fees.<\/span><\/p>\n The exchange launched the Huobi Token as part of an overall strategy to recover its user base after tightening regulations in China severely restricted cryptocurrency trading. In an <\/span>interview with CoinDesk<\/span><\/a>, Leon Li, Huobi\u2019s founder, revealed that Chinese rule changes had decimated the trading volume on Huobi by 95% between September 15 and November 1, 2017. While trading gradually recovered, the leadership team saw the Huobi Token as an opportunity to boost customer engagement, especially with their premium product offerings.<\/span><\/p>\n The launch of Huobi Token also coincided closely with Huobi\u2019s announcement of plans to launch an index fund for the cryptocurrency market. Taken together, these initiatives set a new direction for the exchange and demonstrated to users and spectators that Huobi was on the road toward a comeback. This was critical for Huobi\u2019s global perception, as U.S. investors can\u2019t legally participate in the exchange, but they are monitoring closely how the third-largest global exchange operates and its effect on the market.<\/span><\/p>\n Huobi Token offers users several benefits. Many of these benefits are familiar from other exchange-originated tokens, like BNB. However, others are unique to HT, and are designed to drive liquidity, demand, and ultimately price.<\/span><\/p>\n These benefits make HT seem like a great deal on paper, and HT\u2019s price history bears out that argument. It has already doubled in value since launch earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n Users can use HT to purchase various levels of VIP status on the Huobi exchange. VIP status works on a subscription basis, with users paying monthly. The highest of these levels grants a 50% discount on transaction fees. This level of discount is similar to Binance\u2019s discount scheme. However, unlike Binance, there\u2019s no time limit on when VIP status expires. As long as you continue your monthly VIP subscription, you could maintain the 50% discount for many years.<\/span><\/p>\n The discount may be valuable to retail traders. More importantly, though, it has enormous implications for whales and high-frequency traders where a 50% reduction in transaction fees makes an enormous difference to the bottom line. Expect whales to drive demand for the Huobi Token to purchase and maintain VIP status on the exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n From time to time, Huobi will use earnings from transaction fees to buy back Huobi Tokens. The goal of the seasonal buyback is two-fold. First, it encourages liquidity in the trading and price of HT and discourages hoarding of the tokens. Second, the repurchase replenishes the Huobi User Protection Fund with HT. Huobi administers the Protection Fund to guard against manipulative or fraudulent trading behavior and compensate losses in the case of an emergency.<\/span><\/p>\n Early access is a somewhat nebulous benefit, but it could prove extremely valuable. As part of the VIP subscription service, users may gain early access to assets that will trade on Huobi or special events. In some ways, the VIP-access scheme feels like a pay-to-play scenario and ethically questionable. However, it\u2019s difficult to say precisely what benefits VIP subscribers have received to date because those events and early access are private. Whether this is sketchy or above board is still up for debate.<\/span><\/p>\n Huobi supports trading pairs for Tether, Ethereum, and Bitcoin right out of the box. One of the benefits of being an exchange-created cryptocurrency is immediate listing on the exchanges. The day that Huobi Token completed its token generation event, it listed on Huobi.<\/span><\/p>\n You may not use Huobi or want to purchase VIP packages, but you can still buy Huobi Tokens to speculate on the future value.<\/span><\/p>\n One often overlooked but a possibly\u00a0significant benefit of HT ownership is voting rights on exchange decisions, including new assets to\u00a0be listed on the exchange. At first, this seems like a democratic way to settle the issue of asset listing priorities. Follow the idea to its logical conclusion, however, and you realize that assets that want to be listed on Huobi will merely need to purchase a lot of HT and vote for themselves. The projects with the most money to dedicate to HT purchases will likely get listed in another potential pay-to-play scenario. For the spectating investor, though, such a situation could possibly mean high demand for the token, driving price.<\/span><\/p>\n The HT token distribution began on January 24 and wrapped up on February 7, 2018. Each day of the distribution, millions of tokens sold out in mere minutes after going on sale. At that point, 300 million HT had been distributed to Huobi Pro members who bought packages. That\u2019s 60% of the total supply currently in public circulation.<\/span><\/p>\n Another 200 million HT, 40% of the total supply, was set aside. 20% goes toward user rewards and platform operation. The other 20% is vested for four years and constitutes the team reward.<\/span><\/p>\n After launch, HT\u2019s price hovered between $1.00 and $1.50 until its first major bump on February 13, 2018, up to over $2.00. The price has never gone below $2 again. HT hit its all-time high in early June when it nearly reached $6. A gradual decline since then has brought the price to the $3.00-$3.50 range in recent weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n The easiest place to buy Huobi Tokens is obviously on Huobi. They have many trading pairs available. However, for most U.S. investors, getting your hands on HT will be difficult. The token has listed on LBank and Gate.io, so if you have an account with either of those exchanges you can purchase HT there.<\/span><\/p>\n Mostly, buying HT makes sense for Huobi users. If you don\u2019t have access to Huobi, then the only purpose of acquiring the token is speculating on the price.<\/span><\/p>\n Huobi Token is an ERC-20 coin. So, any wallet that supports Ethereum can also store Huobi tokens. You may need to point the wallet to the Huobi Token smart contract address if you don\u2019t see the funds in your wallet initially: 0xe824ec0f8384600f3187967f8b098014e31892f2<\/span><\/p>\n We recommend the <\/span>Ledger Nano S<\/span><\/a> as a good hardware wallet solution for ERC-20 tokens. Alternatively, use a paper wallet from <\/span>MyEtherWallet<\/span><\/a> or a similar secure paper wallet provider.<\/span><\/p>\n The Huobi Token presents an exciting opportunity for large-scale traders like whales and high-frequency operations to lower their expenses on Huobi. Huobi itself has stated that its VIP packages intentionally target institutional investors. Additionally, the vote for new listings functionality of the coin makes a compelling case for new tokens to prioritize buying HT. So far, the token seems to have seen gradual, steady adoption. If that trend continues, expect demand for the hard-capped supply of tokens to increase and take the token price higher along with it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Huobi Token (HT) gives Huobi VIP users reduced transaction costs, early access, & voting rights. But do the incentives create a pay-to-play scenario?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":11570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5712],"tags":[12384,15363],"class_list":{"0":"post-11565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-guides","8":"tag-huobi","9":"tag-huobi-token"},"wppr_data":[],"yoast_head":"\nHuobi Token Background<\/b><\/h2>\n
Huobi Token Benefits<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"ht](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-2018-07-25-at-13.06.29.png\")
1. Transaction Fee Discount<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"huobi](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-2018-07-25-at-14.22.26.png\")
2. Liquidity Buybacks<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. Early Access & Events<\/span><\/h3>\n
4. Tradeable Against Popular Currencies<\/span><\/h3>\n
5. Survey & Voting Rights<\/span><\/h3>\n
Total Supply & Allocation<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"token](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screenshot-2018-07-25-at-13.06.49.png\")
Price History<\/b><\/h2>\n
How to Buy Huobi Tokens (HT)<\/b><\/h2>\n
How to Store Huobi Tokens (HT)<\/b><\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n