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

Billionaire Li Lin is set to relocate his private trading empire to a Hong Kong-listed company under his control, Bitfire, a wealth management firm where he is the largest shareholder. The company has agreed to pay $1.6 million to acquire a trading system and investment team from Li's family office, Avenir Group. This strategic move effectively transitions part of Li's in-house crypto trading operation to a publicly listed entity, providing a more transparent framework to attract institutional investors. The deal comes at a time when Hong Kong is establishing itself 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. With the acquisition of Avenir's capabilities, Bitfire plans to launch a bitcoin-focused strategy called 'Alpha BTC,' aiming to manage over 10,000 bitcoins, valued at approximately $760 million, within a year. The strategy will focus on generating returns through derivatives trading, including bitcoin options and products like IBIT. Avenir has already built a substantial position in bitcoin ETFs, holding 18.3 million shares of IBIT, issued by BlackRock, worth around $908 million as of 2025. Li, the founder of Huobi, now known as HTX, previously sold a controlling stake to Justin Sun for about $1 billion in 2022 and has since focused on managing investments through Avenir.