Li Lin Moves Family Office Team to Bitfire to Launch Bitcoin Asset Strategy in Hong Kong

April 24, 2026

By Shubhii Verma

Chinese crypto entrepreneur Li Lin is looking to expand his presence in Hong Kong’s growing digital asset market by moving part of his family office operations into a Hong Kong-listed company where he is the largest shareholder.

Bitfire Group, a wealth management firm listed in Hong Kong, announced that it will acquire the investment team and trading systems from Avenir Group, Li Lin’s family office, for US$1.6 million. The move is aimed at building regulated bitcoin-focused asset management services to meet rising demand from investors and institutions interested in digital assets.

Li Lin is best known as the founder of Huobi, now called HTX, which was once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. However, after China imposed a strict ban on cryptocurrency trading in 2021, the industry underwent major changes. Li later sold his controlling stake in Huobi to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun in 2022 for around US$1 billion and shifted his focus to managing investments through his family office.

Now, with Hong Kong positioning itself as a virtual asset and Web3 hub, Li sees an opportunity to operate within a regulated environment. Through Bitfire, the plan is to launch a bitcoin-denominated asset management strategy called “Alpha BTC.”

According to Bitfire CEO Livio Weng, the firm plans to raise investments equivalent to more than 10,000 bitcoins, currently worth around US$760 million, within the next year. Weng said there is strong market demand for such products, especially as many Hong Kong-listed companies already hold bitcoin but lack structured ways to generate returns from those holdings.

The Alpha BTC strategy will aim to generate profits using derivatives trading, such as options, with bitcoin or the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF as the underlying asset. The strategy is designed for both crypto-native investors and traditional Hong Kong-based firms that are exploring ways to benefit from their digital asset exposure.

Bitfire estimates that at least 40 Hong Kong-listed companies currently hold bitcoin on their balance sheets. With bitcoin trading around US$76,000 after recovering from a volatile first quarter, interest in bitcoin-related financial products is growing again.

Avenir Group, Li’s family office, has also become a major investor in bitcoin ETFs. Since 2024, it has emerged as Asia’s largest bitcoin ETF investor. By the end of 2025, Avenir held 18.3 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, valued at around US$908 million, according to regulatory filings.

This latest move signals Li Lin’s effort to connect traditional finance, regulated markets, and bitcoin-focused investment strategies through Hong Kong’s evolving digital asset ecosystem.