HONG KONG, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Huobi Group, the leading blockchain asset solutions provider, announced today the official appointment of OKEx ex-CEO, Chris Lee, joining the company as Board Secretary and Vice President of Global Business Development. In this role, Chris will lead Huobi Group's global M&A strategy and oversee the development of international teams.

"This year, we're making major investments in growing the global blockchain and digital asset ecosystem and I am confident in Chris's passion and ability to help us capture this opportunity," said Leon Li, founder, and CEO of Huobi Group.

The popularity of blockchain and digital assets have incited finance ministers, regulating bodies, banks and policymakers around the world to be steadfast in outlining clearer guidelines, processes, and licenses. In the last two quarters, the scale of digital asset investment funds has increased drastically alongside new alliances in the global ecosystem that aims to promote the widespread adoption and integration of blockchain technology.

"Licenses and guidelines will lead to more product diversification and participation," said Chris. "We will likely see growth in both utility and security tokens, digital asset-related financial derivatives, and the digitization of physical assets. These are all massive markets that we want to capture to maintain our first-mover advantage."

Chris foresees that in less than five years, sixty-percent of the total transaction volume in major international markets will be accounted for by just the three exchange groups from each market. Additionally, there will be an emergence of open and decentralized exchanges as blockchain and digital assets evolve.

"I am a big believer in blockchain technology and view exchanges as the heart of the industry," said Chris Lee. "Huobi Group has built a strong foundation, from the popularity of its exchange to the investments the company has made in the global blockchain ecosystem. The combination of the team's technical expertise with industry-leading marketing and operational abilities positions it to become the Goldman Sachs of this new era in finance. If done properly, Huobi may even be bigger than Goldman one day."