San clarified the situation with the HTX block on Binance: the restrictions will not affect everyone.
HTX founder Justin Sun claims that Binance's restrictions on his exchange apply exclusively to users in the United Kingdom and the European Union. However, Binance's official notice contains no such geographic reference.
This statement came on Friday evening—just a few hours after Binance announced it had blacklisted HTX. Sun also reported that HTX is already in talks with UK and EU regulators about a global settlement.
Justin Sun's Comment
"I discussed this matter with Binance, and it only concerns Binance users in the UK and EU. Huobi itself does not operate in the UK or the European Union. Our negotiations with British and European regulators are already underway," Sun wrote on social media.
The founder of HTX added that affected users can contact the exchange's support service, and their issues will be resolved on a case-by-case basis.
Binance's Restrictions and HTX's Position
In its notice, Binance did not single out any specific country, addressing the warning to all users. The exchange warned that transactions with restricted platforms may be suspended for compliance checks after the effective date. In this announcement, Binance restricted 11 platforms.
Sun's second statement raises questions. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) states that in 2023, the HTX website was visited 4.6 million times from the UK—ranking sixth among crypto companies in British traffic. HTX only closed registration for new British users after a lawsuit from the regulator.
The statement about negotiations with British authorities is confirmed. There is a moratorium in the High Court case until August 25, and HTX is currently in talks with the FCA regarding illegal advertising. Sun did not specify which EU body the negotiations are with.
The timeline is extremely tight: Binance will cut off HTX on August 23—two days before the moratorium in London ends.
My analysis: The situation looks ambiguous. On one hand, Sun is trying to localize the problem to minimize panic among HTX's global audience. On the other, FCA data on millions of British visits to the HTX website calls into question the claim of no operations in the region at all. Investors should closely monitor the progress of negotiations with regulators: if an agreement is not reached before August 23, this could create serious liquidity problems for users who use Binance to withdraw funds from HTX.