HTX Exchange surpasses Coinbase in spot trading volumes
2 min readHTX (formerly Huobi) reached a major milestone on May 27 by overtaking U.S.-based Coinbase in daily spot trading volume for the first time.
Justin Sun, the influential figure behind the TRON blockchain and one of HTX’s investors, shared the milestone on X. He said that HTX traded 1.81 billion USD worth of cryptocurrencies within 24 hours, surpassing Coinbase’s 1.58 billion USD.
HTX Exchange recorded 1.81 billion USD in spot trading volume
According to recent CoinGecko data, Coinbase has taken back the top spot. In the past 24 hours, Coinbase processed a 2.2 billion USD trading volume, making it the third-largest crypto exchange globally, behind only Bybit and OKX. HTX traded around 2.1 billion USD, pushing the platform behind Coinbase.
It is worth recalling that the HTX exchange, one of the largest and oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, celebrated its 10th anniversary in September 2023. To celebrate this milestone, the exchange renamed itself from Huobi to HTX.The renaming was controversial, with many in the crypto community drawing parallels between HTX and the collapsed FTX exchange. This applies to the new name: “H” stands for Huobi, “T” for Sun’s blockchain project Tron, and “X” for the exchange.
HTX Exchange Latest Milestone in Coinbase Litigation
The temporary decline in Coinbase spot trading volume came amid the exchange’s legal battle in the United States.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, accusing the exchange of offering unregistered securities. The SEC’s lawsuit alleges that Coinbase failed to register as a broker, national securities exchange or clearing agency, thereby evading regulatory disclosure requirements designed to protect the securities markets.
Coinbase has since defended its business practices in court. However, the litigation reached a critical point in March 2024, when a U.S. court denied Coinbase’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit. The ruling allowed the SEC to continue pursuing its allegations that Coinbase operated an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearinghouse.
However, Coinbase made a strategic legal move by filing a memorandum in support of its preliminary injunction in May 2024. The appeal aims to overturn the court’s earlier decision and potentially ease the legal pressure on the company.
Earlier this month, the exchange’s legal troubles deepened further when Coinbase customers filed a lawsuit against two of the company’s subsidiaries for repeatedly violating securities laws since Coinbase’s founding.
