Huobi, the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, recently announced and launched a new currency. The Huobi Token (HT) rewards exchange users for their loyalty with lowered transaction fees while also carrying its own value in tradable pairs against popular currencies. The hope was to bring greater value to Huobi’s millions of users, mostly located in Asian countries. The launch of the Huobi Token follows in the footsteps of other loyalty-building tokens that other exchanges have launched. The first and most successful of these tokens has been Binance Coin (BNB). The creation of BNB secured Binance’s place as the world’s leading exchange. It offered discounted trading fees in exchange for customer loyalty, primarily functioning as a loyalty rewards system. Huobi officially announced its intentions to launch a new token on January 22, 2018. Over the course of 15 days, Huobi would distribute 300 million HT (60% of the total supply) to its pro users who purchased a discounted service package. Each morning, a new batch of HT would become available on a first come, first served basis. Huobi declared this token distribution scheme, “not an ICO,” due to the nature of the offering. Users are buying a specific service package, part of which includes HT that give a discount toward trading fees. The exchange launched the Huobi Token as part of an overall strategy to recover its user base after tightening regulations in China severely restricted cryptocurrency trading. In an interview with CoinDesk, Leon Li, Huobi’s founder, revealed that Chinese rule changes had decimated the trading volume on Huobi by 95% between September 15 and November 1, 2017. The HT token distribution began on January 24 and wrapped up on February 7, 2018. Each day of the distribution, millions of tokens sold out in mere minutes after going on sale. At that point, 300 million HT had been distributed to Huobi Pro members who bought packages. That’s 60% of the total supply currently in public circulation. Another 200 million HT, 40% of the total supply, was set aside. 20% goes toward user rewards and platform operation. The other 20% is vested for four years and constitutes the team reward. Huobi isn’t the first exchange to issue its own token. Binance (BNB), Bibox (BIX), KuCoin (KCS) and Coss (COSS) have all issued their own tokens as well.
Project PAI is an open-source blockchain project developing the world's first blockchain-based platform for intelligent 3D AI avatars. Personal AI (PAI) looks, talks and behaves like the individual user and, when secured and authenticated on the blockchain, allows for unprecedented customization, utility and personal data control. With communities worldwide and adopters including leading U.S. AI company ObEN Inc., Project PAI is rapidly advancing its vision of allowing everyone in the world to participate in the new global humanistic AI economy. Project PAI's independent blockchain platform is intended to allow users to create, own and manage their digital identity and the associated data, letting users participate in a new global humanistic AI economy where they are the owners of their own digital identity and data. The listing on HBUS marks another step in Project PAI's growth throughout the U.S. and global market. Project PAI's vision is to create a platform where everyone can create their own Personal AI, intelligent digital avatars that look, sound and behave like them. With PAI, users can have more personalized digital experiences, including using their PAI for social media content or interacting with the PAI of their doctors, teachers or even their favorite celebrities across a number of applications in retail, entertainment, travel and more. The core technology for the avatars is powered by Project PAI early-adopter ObEN, a leading artificial intelligence company based in Los Angeles, California. PAIs are secured and authenticated on the Project PAI blockchain. The intention is to always allow the user to be the owner of their own data and if they choose to contribute that data to improve applications or AI algorithms on the PAI blockchain, they can be compensated for their efforts in PAI Coin. In addition, as an open-source public blockchain, companies and developers can create their own apps and tokens on the PAI blockchain to build more interactions for the Project PAI community. Already this year, Project PAI has launched both its mainnet and github. A third-party-developed digital wallet for PAI Coin, called PAI Up, is also available globally on both iOS and Android. The project has recently expanded into the Southeast Asia, U.K. and European markets, following solid presence in China, Japan, Korea and the U.S.