The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it is pursuing cryptocurrency exchange HTX for illegally promoting digital asset services in the country.
The FCA has started legal proceedings against the exchange formerly known as Huobi in the High Court in London, according to an emailed statement on Thursday.
The financial regulator had previously issued warnings dating back to 2023 that the exchange, which was bought by Tron founder Justin Sun in 2022, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, could promote financial services without its authorization. Sun was not mentioned in the statement.
At the time, the FCA said consumers should avoid dealing with Huobi because it was not authorized to promote financial services in the UK.
“This action is part of our commitment to protecting consumers and maintaining the integrity of the UK financial markets,” an FCA spokesperson said in the statement. “We have seen crypto companies respond positively to our rules and regulations around financial promotions, but where we still see poor practices, we will not hesitate to take action when companies appear to be breaking our rules.”
HTX did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
