Huobi Joins GLASS Network and Invests in SharesPost

Huobi joins network enabling compliant trading of digital securities globally

SharesPost, a leading provider of liquidity solutions to the private growth asset class, has announced that Huobi, China’s largest cryptocurrency and blockchain token exchange and second largest worldwide, has joined the Global Liquidity and Settlement System network (GLASS). When GLASS becomes operational, Huobi will be able to settle secondary trades of digital securities by U.S. investors in compliance with U.S. securities laws. Huobi will also be able to pool its nine million customers’ buy and sell orders with other exchanges using GLASS on a trading pair by trading pair basis.

Greg Brogger, Founder and CEO of SharesPost, said: “We are very excited to see GLASS validated by such a highly respected trading platform. It signals the start of the next stage of development in the digital securities market, and we expect it will go a long way to clearing the cloud that the absence of a legitimate global compliance solution has cast over crypto markets for the last year.”

Originated by SharesPost, GLASS is a decentralized, global network of crypto trading platforms and licensed broker dealers and exchanges. GLASS is designed to be the blockchain community’s shared compliance and settlement infrastructure. Each country will have licensed entities, like SharesPost’s U.S. Alternative Trading System (ATS), on the GLASS network. When trading platforms like Huobi match an offshore client in a digital securities trade, they can submit the trade to the network’s licensed entity in the client’s home jurisdiction for compliant settlement. Huobi joins other prominent centralized and decentralized crypto trading platforms, including OKCoin and Stellar, in supporting the launch of GLASS.  

Exchanges on GLASS can also opt to pool their customers’ orders for certain tokens with those of other exchanges. This is meant to provide sufficient liquidity for the anticipated wave of security tokens and tokenized assets and drive incremental trading revenue to member exchanges. Within a month of the launch of GLASS, the aggregated volume of GLASS member exchanges already represents the single largest pool of liquidity for token trading in the world. GLASS member exchanges will benefit from the resulting network effects.

Huobi has also made an equity investment in SharesPost. “We are thrilled to have Huobi as a shareholder,” said Brogger. “Because of Huobi’s proven ability to innovate their enormous investor base in China and throughout Asia, we can imagine no better partner in our mission to create a compliant, efficient global marketplace for all types of private growth company securities.”