The cryptocurrency world is no stranger to controversies and hacks, as many billions of dollars have been plundered due to malpractice. While regulations have become more structured, hackers and bad actors have found ways to circumvent them.
To ensure that users can have a safe trading experience on their platform, Singapore based Huobi Group has launched its own on-chain analytics tool called Star Atlas. This will enable the cryptocurrency exchange to track transactions without having to take the help of a third party.
It is not hard to see why the cryptocurrency firm made the move as the rate of shady activities in the industry has only gone up. Recent reports had claimed that despite all the positive changes in the fintech ecosystem, 2019 was the year with the biggest haul in terms of stolen crypto capital. The Huobi Group plans to stop this by allowing users to track on-chain crypto-asset transactions in real-time.
Star Atlas is set to elevate Huobi into a market filled with analysts, government regulators, and other law agencies. Integrating such a feature within the company’s workings was seen as a way to show institutions that privacy and transparency was an important feature. Ciara Sun, the Vice President of Global Business at Huobi Group, stated:
“It’s estimated that only a small percentage of cryptocurrency transactions are illicit, but any incident – regardless of size – is a stain on the entire industry.As one of the most active crypto exchanges on the market, we see it as our responsibility to take a leading role in preventing the minority of bad actors from ruining it for the vast majority that follows the rules.”
According to sources within Huobi, the firm will use Star Atlas to identify suspicious accounts and cryptocurrency movements. Exchanges have had to bear the brunt of many false transactions that affected the price of major cryptocurrencies. These ‘whales’ have been responsible for market movements that resulted in losses for other holders. With the latest system, Huobi will be able to temporarily restrict an account holder if any suspicious activity was spotted.
Huobi’s focus on capital security may have been renewed after the release of a Chainalysis report in December 2019. The report had mentioned that Huobi as an exchange was the off-ramp for nearly 25 percent of the $2.8 billion in illegal cryptocurrency transactions. This figure was only second to that of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
Star Atlas’s launch was a build-up to a series of developments from Huobi. The cryptocurrency exchange also revealed that it was returning to the US mainland to resume operations again. Sun had earlier said that the partnership will be with a US-based trading platform which will enable Huobi to be regulations-compliant at a lower cost. Through the p[artnership, the exchange will offer asset management services and Over the counter brokerage for institutional investors.