Canceled bonuses, pay disputes, mass layoffs, and a communication blackout have all been reported as part of the happenings at the cryptocurrency exchange.

Despite an advisor to the exchange denying the rumours, speculation on Twitter that crypto exchange Huobi has laid off staff and shut down internal communications has prompted the community to advise users to withdraw funds.

Huobi advisor Justin Sun addressed rumours of purported insolvency in a Jan. 5 tweet, saying the exchange’s business development was “good” and the “security of users’ assets will always be fully protected.”

Sun also appeared to dismiss rumours about disgruntled employees, stating that Huobi will “fully respect the legal demands of local employees.”

Previously, on January 3, crypto journalist Colin Wu reported that Sun had changed Huobi employee salaries from being paid in fiat to being paid in either Tether or USD Coin, claiming that employees who disagreed with the change could be laid off.

Wu previously reported in December 2022 that Huobi had cancelled year-end bonuses and was planning to lay off up to half of its 1,200 employees, citing insiders.

According to Wu, the move to convert salary payments from fiat to stablecoins sparked protests from some employees.

A tweet from the Twitter account “BitRun” on January 4 claimed that a “communication group with internal employees” at the exchange had been shut down and that “all communication and feedback channels with employees” had been blocked.

BitRun also stated that they were not ruling out a rebellion by Huobi employees who could “directly rug away user assets or programmers add backdoor Trojan horses,” claiming that the practise was “not protected by domestic laws.”

Huobi is headquartered in the Seychelles, but it also has offices in Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. It is a publicly traded company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The foreboding warning prompted one Twitter user to declare that Huobi “seems to be melting down in real-time,” while others advised users to withdraw funds from the exchange due to the rumours.

According to CoinGecko data, Huobi Token is down nearly 7% in the last 24 hours.

Huobi was contacted for comment by Cointelegraph, but no response was received at the time of publication.