Li Lin, founder of Huobi and chairman of Hong Kong’s Avenir Capital, is initiating a new $1 billion ether trust along with several of Asia’s prominent early Ethereum investors, as reported by Bloomberg.
The article cites insiders who mention that Li has partnered with Fenbushi Capital co-founder Shen Bo, HashKey Group CEO Xiao Feng, and Meitu founder Cai Wensheng to establish a digital asset trust aimed at accumulating Ether.
This initiative reportedly includes negotiations to purchase a Nasdaq-listed company to facilitate the structure and has already attracted approximately $1 billion in financial pledges.
Among the contributions are about $200 million from Li’s Avenir Capital and $500 million from regional institutional investors like HongShan Capital Group, according to sources. Discussions are still ongoing, with an official announcement anticipated in the coming weeks.
This venture arises as digital asset managers seek to attract institutional interest in ether following the successful introduction of U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Li established Huobi in 2013 and sold the cryptocurrency exchange to entrepreneur Justin Sun following China’s crypto trading ban in 2021. His Avenir Capital, based in Hong Kong, has since emerged as one of Asia’s largest Bitcoin ETF holders, managing more than $1 billion in assets.
CoinGecko data indicates that 14 publicly traded ether treasury firms collectively hold 4,434,707 ETH (approximately $16.9 billion), with Tom Lee’s BitMine (BMNR.US) being the largest, possessing more than $11 billion worth of ether.
