HTX: Justin Sun-Linked Exchange Settles the FCA's First Crypto Advertising Case and Leaves the UK

On 29 October 2026 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Britain's financial regulator, announced that HTX, the crypto exchange formerly called Huobi, had left the UK. Two days earlier, on 27 October, Deputy Master Holden of the High Court in London had signed an order halting the regulator's lawsuit against Huobi Global S.A., the Panama company the FCA named as HTX's operator.

The deal is a settlement, not a verdict. No judge decided whether HTX broke the law. Huobi Global gave the court promises, known as undertakings, that it will not "knowingly" break Britain's rules on financial advertising, whether on the HTX website, its apps or its social media accounts. Those promises last until 21 October 2031. The rest of the terms are confidential. The FCA said the settlement "does not constitute an admission of liability or wrongdoing by Huobi Global or any other person or entity." No fine was announced, and the court made no order on legal costs.

According to the FCA, HTX is no longer active in the UK. Customers can no longer make deposits, new UK users cannot sign up, and HTX "will not target, solicit or actively seek to engage UK consumers." Steve Smart, the FCA's executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: "Crypto firms should be under no illusion: being based overseas does not put them beyond the reach of UK law. Our action means HTX is leaving the UK and can no longer target UK consumers. The message to other firms is clear: follow the rules or face the consequences."

HTX's answer, given to the Financial Times and reported by the crypto news site Protos, was that it had "proactively implemented measures to align with the UK's financial promotion regulations."

HTX is a large crypto exchange, a broker for digital coins, run from outside Britain. Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain, is closely tied to it. Reuters has reported that Sun bought a controlling stake in 2022; HTX describes him as an adviser, a member of its global advisory board. Sun was not a defendant in the FCA case, and no comment from him on the settlement was reported.

What the rules require

Since 8 October 2023, crypto adverts in Britain have fallen under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the same law that controls adverts for shares and investment funds. Any "invitation or inducement" to buy crypto that can reach people in the UK must come from a firm the FCA has authorised, be approved by one, or come from a crypto business registered with the FCA under the anti-money-laundering rules. The FCA's rules then require a fixed risk warning ("Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest"), a 24-hour cooling-off period before a first-time investor can buy, a check that the customer understands the risks, and a ban on refer-a-friend and sign-up bonuses. Making an unlawful promotion is a criminal offence with a maximum of two years in prison. The rules apply to firms based overseas.

There is one way out. A promotion aimed only at people outside the UK is exempt, provided the firm makes that clear and has proper systems to stop UK residents from signing up. It is like a foreign broker whose website anyone can read but which turns British customers away at the door. Whether HTX had built that door was the heart of the case.

The FCA's case

The FCA set out its claim on 21 October 2025, in particulars of claim signed by its barristers Nicholas Peacock KC and James Mitchell. It says it wrote to the exchange, then still called Huobi, four times between 4 July and 21 September 2023 to explain the new rules, and that two of those letters drew only automated replies. On 8 October 2023, the day the rules began, it put HTX on its Warning List of firms that may be promoting unlawfully.

The FCA wrote again in October 2024. On 22 October 2024 someone signing as "Iver" replied from an HTX support address that HTX was aware of the rules and had "stopped targeting any UK customers or establishing operations presence in the UK" before they took effect.

The FCA's answer was a test. According to the claim, an FCA employee using a UK internet address signed up with a UK driving licence, bought crypto through the site's person-to-person market and made a futures trade, a bet on a future price, on two crypto pairs. The FCA pointed out that the site was in English, accepted pounds sterling, and that HTX's own terms barred UK retail users only from derivatives, not from ordinary crypto trading. It counted 4.6 million visits to HTX from the UK in 2023, when it was the sixth most visited crypto service in the country, and about 13,000 in 2024 up to the end of October. It said HTX posts on X, YouTube and other platforms were still reaching UK users when it sued.

The regulator also said it could not tell who ran HTX. The exchange's user agreement refers only to unnamed "HTX Operators". The FCA said the exchange used to belong to Huobi Global Limited, a Seychelles company struck off the register in about October 2023, and inferred that Huobi Global S.A., incorporated in Panama on 15 May 2023, had taken over. To be safe it also sued four groups of "persons unknown", including whoever controls htx.com and HTX's social media accounts. A final warning letter sent on 8 August 2025 got no response, the claim says. The FCA asked the court for a declaration that the law had been broken and an injunction, a court order, to stop the promotions. It got neither, because the case settled first.

From silence to settlement

The FCA made the case public on 10 February 2026, after the court allowed it to serve the papers abroad and by alternative means. Smart, then joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: "This is the first time we've taken enforcement action against a crypto firm illegally marketing their products to UK consumers." The regulator said HTX "operates an opaque organisational structure" and had ignored repeated attempts at contact. It noted that HTX had since stopped new UK sign-ups, but existing UK users could still log in. It asked social media companies to block HTX's accounts for UK users and asked Google and Apple to remove HTX's apps from their UK stores.

Then the two sides started talking. On 31 March 2026, with Huobi Global's consent, Deputy Master Valentine paused the case for three months so the two sides could try to settle. Reuters reported the talks on 13 August. The pause was extended several times, the last until 16 October 2026, the day the two sides signed a confidential settlement agreement. The Tomlin order followed on 27 October. A Tomlin order freezes a lawsuit on terms the parties have agreed in private. If either side breaks those terms, the other can go straight back to the same court to enforce them without starting a new case.

The sanctions in the background

The exit came on top of a bigger problem. On 26 May 2026 the UK government sanctioned Huobi Global S.A. under its Russia sanctions rules. Its stated reason is that there are "reasonable grounds to suspect" the company supported the Russian government by providing financial services to A7, a payments company, and to Garantex Europe, both described as working in a sector of strategic significance to Russia. The UK listing gives "HTX (formerly Huobi)" and "HTX Exchange" as other names for the company and lists htx.com as its website. The measures include an asset freeze and a duty on app stores and social media to block UK access.

HTX disputes the link. On the day of the listing it said that Huobi Global S.A. "is distinct from the online HTX exchange" and that "all user funds are safe," Decrypt reported. On 23 July 2026 the European Union listed "HTX (HUOBI GLOBAL SA)" in its 21st package of Russia sanctions, banning EU firms from doing business with it from 23 August. HTX told The Block that it "takes compliance seriously." The FCA settlement covers advertising only. It does not lift any sanctions.