The UK Financial Conduct Authority is in settlement talks with HTX over allegations that the exchange unlawfully promoted crypto services to UK consumers, Reuters reported, citing court filings. London’s High Court has paused the case until late August to allow the two sides to try to reach terms.
The filings show the parties exchanged emails in March, began a three-month negotiation period, and then extended those talks by a further two months on June 25.
FCA filed the case in October last year
The FCA issued proceedings in the Chancery Division on October 21 last year. Reuters said it was the regulator’s first enforcement action of its kind against a crypto exchange over marketing. The claim itself was published in February.
The regulator is seeking an injunction and a declaration from the court that the defendants breached Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act, which prohibits unauthorized financial promotions.
Claim names Huobi Global S.A. and several groups of unknown persons
The particulars of claim identify Huobi Global S.A., a company incorporated in Panama in May 2023, as a defendant. The filing also names four categories of “persons unknown”: whoever owns or controls htx.com, whoever is covered by the term “HTX Operators” in the exchange’s own user agreement, whoever runs its social media accounts, and anyone who takes on those roles before October 31, 2028.
HTX’s terms define its operators as “all parties that run the Platform” without naming them, and say that identity can change at any time. Justin Sun, who took a controlling stake in 2022, is not named in the case.
FCA says UK users were still able to trade
The claim sets out how the regulator tested whether UK users could still access trading. According to the filing, an FCA employee using a UK IP address bought cryptoassets through HTX’s peer-to-peer service and carried out futures trades on two pairs after completing identity verification with a UK driving license.
The FCA also points to the site operating in English, accepting GBP, and accepting UK photo identification. It says HTX’s own terms only bar UK retail users from derivatives rather than other cryptoassets, while the platform did not in practice stop them from trading futures.
HTX was added to the FCA warning list in October 2023, the same day the rules took effect. The claim also says the exchange did not respond to the regulator’s letter before action in August 2025.
Separate from sanctions matters
The negotiations are running in parallel with sanctions pressure from two directions. The UK sanctioned HTX and Justin Sun over alleged links to evasion of Russian sanctions, and the European Union named the exchange in its own Russia-related measures two months later.
Reuters said the FCA claim is separate from those sanctions matters and deals only with marketing.
Neither side commented on the talks
HTX and the FCA both declined to comment to Reuters on the settlement discussions. An HTX spokesperson said the exchange “remains dedicated to upholding high standards of compliance, transparency, and user protection.”