Li Lin shifts Bitcoin trading to Bitfire, targets $760m in BTC derivatives

Published: 2026-04-22 08:11:56 |

Hong Kong listed wealth manager Bitfire Group will buy Avenir Group’s trading system and investment team for $1.6 million, as Chinese crypto entrepreneur Li Lin moves part of his in-house bitcoin trading into a regulated public platform. Reuters said Avenir is Asia’s largest spot bitcoin ETF investor, holding 18.3 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), worth about $908 million by end-2025. Bitfire plans to launch a regulated bitcoin-denominated strategy, “Alpha BTC,” using bitcoin-linked derivatives, including options and structures tied to IBIT. Bitfire CEO Livio Weng said the firm aims to attract more than 10,000 BTC in assets within one year (around $760 million at current prices). The report also notes Bitfire expects at least 40 Hong Kong listed companies already hold bitcoin, potentially expanding the client base for regulated wealth and treasury products. For traders, this is an institutional-style shift from private, family-office trading toward exchange/ETF-linked bitcoin exposure. The near-term market impact may be limited versus spot flows, but BTC derivatives demand could increase as the product pipeline scales.

Bullish

This news is broadly bullish for BTC because it signals a clearer institutional-style pipeline into regulated bitcoin exposure in Hong Kong. A public-company vehicle acquiring Avenir’s trading capabilities and explicitly targeting $760m+ worth of BTC within a year suggests sustained demand for bitcoin-linked derivatives (options and IBIT-tied structures), even if immediate spot buying is not the focus. Short term, the effect is likely more sentiment- and positioning-driven than a direct spot inflow, so price may respond modestly unless traders extrapolate further product launches. Long term, the potential client base of at least 40 bitcoin-holding Hong Kong listed companies could deepen recurring allocation flows, supporting a steadier bid for BTC-related products and volatility that remains consistent with derivatives activity.