Li Lin's Private Trading Operation to be Absorbed by Hong Kong-Listed Wealth Management Firm

A significant development is underway in the crypto landscape as Chinese billionaire Li Lin prepares to integrate his private trading empire into a Hong Kong-listed company under his control. The publicly traded firm, Bitfire, which specializes in wealth management and is majority-owned by Li, has announced plans to acquire a trading system and investment team from Li's family office, Avenir Group, for $1.6 million. This strategic acquisition effectively transitions a portion of Li's in-house crypto operations to a publicly listed entity, streamlining its ability to attract institutional investors. The move coincides with a regional shift, where Hong Kong is emerging as a regulated hub for digital assets following mainland China's ban on crypto trading in 2021. Recently, Hong Kong granted stablecoin licenses to major banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered, underscoring its commitment to the sector. By leveraging Avenir's capabilities, Bitfire intends to launch a bitcoin-focused strategy dubbed 'Alpha BTC', aiming to manage over 10,000 bitcoins, valued at approximately $760 million, within the next year. The strategy will generate returns through derivatives trading, including bitcoin options and products like the IBIT. Notably, Avenir has established a substantial presence in bitcoin ETFs, holding 18.3 million shares of IBIT, issued by BlackRock, with a valuation of about $908 million as of 2025. Li, the founder of Huobi, now known as HTX, previously built it into one of the world's largest crypto exchanges before selling a controlling stake to Justin Sun for approximately $1 billion in 2022. Since then, he has focused on managing investments through Avenir.