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

Renowned Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Li Lin is set to relocate his private trading operations to a Hong Kong-listed company under his control, marking a significant shift in response to the increasing 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. According to a recent announcement, Bitfire will acquire a trading system and investment team from Li's family office, Avenir Group, for a sum of $1.6 million. This deal, while structured as a purchase, essentially transitions a portion of Li's in-house cryptocurrency operations to a publicly traded entity, thereby providing a clearer pathway for attracting institutional investors. The timing of this move aligns with the broader trends in the region, as mainland China has prohibited cryptocurrency trading since 2021, while Hong Kong is actively positioning itself as a regulated hub for digital assets, attracting the attention of firms seeking a compliant base. Recently, Hong Kong granted stablecoin licenses to major banking institutions such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. Following the acquisition of 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 in assets, within a year. This strategy will seek to generate returns through derivatives trading, including bitcoin options and products like IBIT. Avenir has already established a substantial position in bitcoin ETFs, holding 18.3 million shares of IBIT, issued by BlackRock, with a valuation of about $908 million as of the end of 2025, according to the company's regulatory filings. 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.