Chinese crypto veteran Li Lin is folding part of his private trading arm into a Hong Kong-listed vehicle as he eyes institutional capital and broader access to digital-asset markets.
What happened
- Bitfire, a Hong Kong-listed wealth management firm where Li is the largest shareholder, will pay $1.6 million to acquire a trading system and investment team from Li’s family office, Avenir Group, Reuters reported.
- Although structured as a sale, the deal effectively migrates a slice of Li’s in-house crypto trading operation onto a public platform — a move meant to make those capabilities more accessible to institutional investors.
Strategy and scale
- Bitfire plans to launch a bitcoin-focused strategy called “Alpha BTC,” targeting more than 10,000 bitcoins — roughly $760 million of assets — within a year.
- The strategy will pursue returns through derivatives trading, including bitcoin options and exposure via products such as IBIT.
Avenir’s existing footprint
- Avenir has already amassed a sizable position in bitcoin ETFs, holding 18.3 million shares of BlackRock’s IBIT, valued at about $908 million as of the end of 2025, according to Bitfire’s regulatory filing.
Why this matters
- The move illustrates a broader regional shift: mainland China has maintained a crypto trading ban since 2021, while Hong Kong is positioning itself as a regulated hub for digital assets. Regulators there have recently granted stablecoin licenses to major banks including HSBC and Standard Chartered, signaling a more formal framework for crypto activity.
- By moving trading infrastructure and personnel into a listed company, Li is creating a clearer, compliant pathway to attract institutional capital and scale crypto strategies under public-market governance.
Background on Li Lin
- Li founded Huobi (now HTX) and grew it into one of the world’s largest exchanges before selling a controlling stake to Justin Sun for about $1 billion in 2022. He has since focused on managing investments through Avenir.
Bottom line
This transaction is less about a modest tech-and-staff sale and more about packaging private crypto expertise into a regulated, publicly listed vehicle — a trend likely to accelerate as investors and firms seek compliant routes into bitcoin and related derivatives in the Asia market.
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