Huobi Founder Leads $1B Ether Fund With Top Asian Investors
Huobi Founder Leads $1B Ether Fund With Top Asian Investors
Huobi founder Li Lin has partnered with some of Asia’s earliest Ethereum (ETH) backers to launch a $1 billion digital asset trust aimed at accumulating Ether and other blockchain-related investments.
Li, who currently heads Avenir Capital, is working alongside Shen Bo (co-founder of Fenbushi Capital), Xiao Feng (chairman and CEO of HashKey Group), and Cai Wensheng (founder of Meitu Inc. and one of China’s best-known crypto investors), according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
Building a Regulated Gateway for Institutional Crypto Exposure
The partners plan to structure the Ether fund through a Nasdaq-listed shell company, offering a regulated framework for institutional investors. So far, the project has reportedly raised around $1 billion, including $500 million from HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia China) and $200 million from Avenir Capital.
An official launch announcement is expected in the coming weeks. The trust is designed to offer regulated exposure to Ethereum and related digital assets, reflecting rising institutional interest following the success of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Rising Institutional Interest in Ethereum
The new fund positions Li Lin and his partners to benefit from the growing demand for Ethereum-based financial products, especially as major jurisdictions prepare to approve spot Ether ETFs.
Since founding Huobi in 2013, Li transformed it into one of the world’s top crypto exchanges before selling it to entrepreneur Justin Sun following China’s crypto ban in 2021. Through Avenir Capital, Li has shifted toward regulated crypto investments and is now one of Asia’s largest holders of Bitcoin ETFs, managing over $1 billion in assets.
Meanwhile, Shen, Xiao, and Cai represent the first wave of Chinese crypto entrepreneurs who embraced Ethereum after its 2015 debut. Fenbushi Capital backed early blockchain projects, HashKey became one of Hong Kong’s first licensed virtual asset trading firms, and Cai has consistently made major digital asset investments through his personal fund.
Ethereum’s Path to Institutional Dominance
At the Digital Assets Summit (DAS) 2025 in London, industry leaders including Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin and SharpLink Co-CEO Joseph Chalom highlighted Ethereum’s growing role in global finance.
During a panel titled “The Path to Trillions: Ethereum’s Institutional Dominance,” speakers discussed how Ethereum’s staking yields, tokenization technology, and on-chain infrastructure are driving institutional adoption.
Experts pointed to on-chain fund issuance, interoperability, and regulatory clarity as key catalysts for Ethereum’s next growth phase. Lubin emphasized that Ethereum’s progress toward scalability and compliance is reinforcing institutional confidence, while Chalom described the recent crypto correction as “a necessary reset before the next bull cycle.”
