HTX Delists Trump Family-Backed Stablecoin USD1, Calls Address Freeze Unjustified

HTX has delisted USD1, the stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, a project backed by US President Donald Trump's family.

Cointelegraph reported on June 8 that HTX would stop supporting USD1 trading after WLFI unilaterally froze on-chain addresses tied to the exchange, citing a sanctions compliance review.

HTX said the addresses were frozen without sufficient prior consultation, legal grounds or a transparent disclosure process. The exchange argued that the move infringed on the rights of users and their assets.

HTX has suspended USD1 deposits and conversion services. It plans to convert users' USD1 holdings into Tether's USDT at a 1:1 ratio. It also halted the WLFI/USDT, USD1/USDT, BTC/USD1 and ETH/USD1 trading pairs.

The dispute flared after the UK government last month placed a Huobi Global entity, the predecessor to HTX, on a sanctions list over allegations of financial support for Russia. WLFI recently said it maintains risk-based sanctions compliance controls following sanctions-related updates.

HTX countered that the sanctioned Huobi Global entity and the currently operating HTX exchange are separate legal entities. It said the sanctions should not affect the exchange's operations.

HTX said it had asked WLFI to lift the address freeze and was considering legal action if necessary.

Justin Sun, widely known as HTX's beneficial owner, sued WLFI in April, alleging that the firm froze tokens he held without proper justification and threatened to burn them. WLFI filed a countersuit in May on defamation and other claims, extending the dispute between the two sides.