Chinese crypto tycoon eyes Hong Kong capital with bitcoin asset management push

[HONG KONG] Chinese crypto tycoon Li Lin plans to move a trading system and team from his family office to Hong Kong-listed Bitfire Group, where he is the largest shareholder, in an effort to tap into demand for digital assets among investors and institutions.

Bitfire, a wealth-management firm, on Wednesday (Apr 22) said it had agreed to buy the investment team and trading systems of Avenir Group, Li’s family office, for US$1.6 million.

Li, from China’s Hunan province, built Huobi - now known as HTX - into one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, before a Beijing crackdown reshaped the industry.

Cryptocurrency trading has been banned in mainland China since 2021, while Hong Kong is striving to become a virtual asset hub.

After selling a controlling stake in Huobi for about US$1 billion to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun in 2022, Li shifted his focus to his family office.

With the acquisition, Bitfire plans to raise external money to provide regulated bitcoin-denominated asset management services, called the “Alpha BTC” strategy, said Livio Weng, CEO of Bitfire, in an interview.

Weng said the strategy would seek to attract investment equivalent to more than 10,000 bitcoins - worth around US$760 million - within a year.

“Market demand for such products is huge,” Weng said, as a growing number of local firms are holding bitcoin, though they lack ways to make gains from the digital currency.

The strategy will generate profits via derivatives trading, such as options, using bitcoin or IBIT ETF as the underlying asset, he said, adding that both crypto-native investors and Hong Kong-based firms would be the target clients.

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At least 40 Hong Kong-listed companies have bitcoin holdings, according to Bitfire estimates.

Bitcoin was last trading at around US$76,000, rebounding from a weak first quarter amid heavy volatility.

Since 2024, Avenir has become Asia’s largest bitcoin ETF investor. The firm held 18.3 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust with a valuation of US$908 million as of the end of 2025, according to its regulatory filing. REUTERS