Chinese crypto billionaire Li Lin is moving part of his family office’s trading operations into a Hong Kong-listed firm he controls, in a bid to scale digital asset strategies and tap institutional capital, according to Reuters.
Hong Kong-listed wealth manager Bitfire Group said it will acquire a trading system and investment team from Avenir Group, Li’s single-family office, for $1.6 million.
The deal effectively transfers a portion of Avenir’s in-house crypto trading capability into a regulated, publicly listed platform.
The move underscores a broader trend of Asian family offices seeking to institutionalise private investment strategies and open them up to external capital, particularly in digital assets.
Bitfire plans to launch a bitcoin-denominated asset management strategy, dubbed “Alpha BTC”, targeting more than 10,000 bitcoins, equivalent to roughly $700 million to $760 million, in assets within a year, its CEO Livio Weng told Reuters.
The strategy will deploy derivatives, including options, using bitcoin and exchange-traded funds such as iShares Bitcoin Trust as underlying assets.
The offering is aimed at both crypto-native investors and traditional institutions in Hong Kong, where regulators have been pushing to position the city as a global virtual asset hub.
At least 40 Hong Kong-listed companies already hold bitcoin, according to Bitfire estimates.
Li, who founded crypto exchange Huobi, now known as HTX, shifted focus to his family office after selling a controlling stake in the business in 2022.
Avenir has since emerged as one of Asia’s largest investors in bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The transaction reflects how family offices are increasingly using public market vehicles to scale proprietary strategies, particularly as demand for regulated exposure to digital assets rises among institutional investors.
