The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange, Huobi Group – Leon Li is reported to be in talks with numerous investors over the sale of his stake in the firm. The price being floated around in discussions is between $2 Billion and $3 Billion and some of those rumoured to be in discussions over the sale are Sam Bankman-Fried and Justin Sun.

Bloomberg reported that the Chinese crypto businessman is looking to sell his majority stake in the company which he established nearly ten years ago. His majority stake represents 60% of the entity. People familiar with the matter disclosed that Li has informed major financial backers of Huobi Group, including Sequoia China and ZhenFund about his decision to sell his stake in his company. Such is his readiness to sell that the purchase deal could be signed as early as the end of August.

A seperate report has hinted at Li’s intention to sell his stake in the trading venue about a month ago. At that time, many people joked that Sam Bankman-Fried had the best chance to seal a deal with Huobi’s executives since FTX were on a shopping spree during the current bear market. Justin Sun and Sam Bankman-Fried are still rumoured to be potential buyers but Sun said he had not discussed a deal with Li while an FTX spokesperson declined to comment on the situation.

Huobi is one of the most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges in the world but it has had to cope with some difficult issues in recent years including the crypto crackdown in China which severely affected Huobi’s revenue. Like many other exchanges, Huobi laid off staff due to the current bear market and investors outflow. Huobi laid off up to 30% of their workforce to stay afloat. The company also tried to strengthen it’s presence worldwide by securing regulatory approval to operate in different countries, most recently Australia about two weeks ago.

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