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

Billionaire Li Lin is set to relocate his private trading operations to a Hong Kong-listed company under his control, Bitfire, a wealth management firm. The move aims to capitalize on the increasing investor interest in digital assets. Bitfire has agreed to purchase a trading system and investment team from Li's family office, Avenir Group, for $1.6 million. This deal essentially transfers a portion of Li's in-house crypto trading into a publicly listed entity, providing a clearer path to attract institutional investors. The move is part of a larger trend in the region, as Hong Kong positions 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. By acquiring Avenir's capabilities, Bitfire plans to introduce a bitcoin-focused strategy called 'Alpha BTC', aiming to manage over $760 million in assets within a year. The strategy will involve derivatives trading, including bitcoin options and products like the IBIT. Avenir currently holds a significant position in bitcoin ETFs, with 18.3 million shares of IBIT valued at approximately $908 million as of 2025. Li, the founder of Huobi, now known as HTX, built it into one of the world's largest crypto exchanges before selling a majority stake to Justin Sun for about $1 billion in 2022. Since then, he has focused on managing investments through Avenir.