Li Lin's Private Trading Arm to Join Forces with Hong Kong-Listed Wealth Firm

Renowned Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Li Lin is poised to relocate his private trading operations to a Hong Kong-listed wealth management company under his control, catering to the escalating demand for digital assets among investors. The Hong Kong-listed company in question, Bitfire, is a wealth management firm where Li serves as the largest shareholder. As reported by Reuters, Bitfire has announced plans to acquire a trading system and investment team from Li's family office, Avenir Group, for a sum of $1.6 million. Although structured as an acquisition, the agreement essentially transitions a segment of Li's in-house cryptocurrency operations to a publicly listed entity, providing a more straightforward path to attracting institutional investors. This development reflects a broader regional trend, as mainland China has prohibited cryptocurrency trading since 2021, while Hong Kong is positioning itself as a regulated hub for digital assets, thereby drawing interest from firms seeking a compliant base. Hong Kong has recently granted stablecoin licenses to prominent institutions such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. By leveraging Avenir's capabilities, Bitfire aims to introduce a bitcoin-focused strategy dubbed 'Alpha BTC,' targeting over 10,000 bitcoins, valued at approximately $760 million in assets within a year. The strategy will pursue returns through derivatives trading, including options tied to bitcoin and products like the IBIT. Avenir has established a substantial position in bitcoin ETFs, holding 18.3 million shares of IBIT, issued by BlackRock, valued at about $908 million as of the end of 2025, according to the company's regulatory filing. Li, who founded Huobi, now known as HTX, and transformed it into one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges before selling a controlling stake to Justin Sun for approximately $1 billion in 2022, has since focused on managing investments through Avenir.