HBUS, the strategic partner of top crypto exchange Huobi, has hired a former executive of venture capital (VC) firm Draper Athena, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Nov. 13.

The HBUS trading platform, which currently employs around 40 people in their headquarters in San Francisco, has officially announced the appointment of Jay Ryu, formerly of Draper Athena, as Vice President of Corporate Development.

As the press release states, Ryu previously worked with prominent figures in the VC industry, such as Draper Athena chairman Tim Draper, well-known for his pro-crypto stance.

According to the report, with seven years of experience as Venture Capital Director at Draper Athena, Ryu led technology investments across Silicon Valley, Asia, and the Middle East. Apart of Draper Athena, the VC expert is also a founder of investment consulting group Rage Partners, as well as a former managing partner and strategic advisor for the private equity group Checkmate Capital.

The new HBUS entrant commented in the release that the current condition of the crypto and blockchain industry is “drastically different than what we witnessed last year,” stressing that the community is “rapidly maturing,” which attracts more institutional players to the field.

Huobi, the third largest crypto exchange by trade volume, first announced their U.S. strategic partner in June this year. Following the announcement, HBUS’ trading platform went live on July 10, offering its customers trading in 22 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Reportedly positioning themselves as “aggressively” competitive with major crypto services such as Coinbase and Robinhood, HBUS has recently announced the release of its API for “experienced traders,” intending to expand crypto-related tools for institutional investors.

At press time, Huobi is ranked 3rd among crypto exchanges on CoinMarketCap by daily trade volumes, with about $388.2 million in trades. HBUS is ranked 142nd for daily trade volumes, seeing about $255K in trades over the past 24 hours.