“Li Lin’s Avenir Capital is said to be teaming up with Asia’s crypto pioneers to build a regulated vehicle focused on ether accumulation.”, — write: www.coindesk.com
The report, which cites people familiar with the matter, claims Li has teamed up with Fenbushi Capital co-founder Shen Bo, HashKey Group CEO Xiao Feng, and Meitu founder Cai Wensheng to form a digital asset trust designed to accumulate and hold Ether.
The venture reportedly includes discussions to acquire a Nasdaq-listed company to structure the vehicle and has already secured roughly $1 billion in commitments.
That includes about $200 million from Li’s Avenir Capital and $500 million from regional institutional players such as HongShan Capital Group, the sources said. Talks remain ongoing, with a formal announcement expected within the next few weeks.
The move comes as digital-asset managers look to capture institutional interest in ether following the success of US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Li founded Huobi in 2013 and sold the exchange to entrepreneur Justin Sun after China’s crypto trading ban in 2021. His Hong Kong-based Avenir Capital has since become one of Asia’s largest holders of Bitcoin ETFs, managing over $1 billion in assets.
CoinGecko data shows that 14 publicly listed ether treasury companies with combined holdings of 4,434,707 ETH ($16.9 billion), the largest being Tom Lee’s BitMine (BMNR.US) that holds more than $11 billion worth of ether.
Arthur Hayes’ Maelstrom family office is launching a private equity fund targeting infrastructure and analytics firms in crypto, aiming for $250 million in capital.
- The fund will deploy $40M–$75M per acquisition to buy between four and six medium-sized crypto firms.
- Focus areas include trading infrastructure, analytics platforms, and non-token equity rather than token holdings.
- Maelstrom plans a US-registered fund, targeting first close by March 2026 and full raise by September 2026.
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