Author: Andjela Radmilac

Translated by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Guide: Huobi founder Li Lin is injecting his family office's Bitcoin trading team into the Hong Kong-listed company Bitfire Group, creating a regulated asset management strategy called Alpha BTC, aiming to accumulate over 10,000 BTC. This is the first attempt by Asian capital to establish a large-scale Bitcoin fund pool within the local regulatory framework, backed by the competition between Hong Kong and the U.S. ETF system for access to Asian institutional funds.

A Hong Kong-listed company wants to absorb over 10,000 BTC into a regulated asset management strategy, which is approximately worth 760 million dollars at current prices.

The number itself is eye-catching, but what is worth noting is the structure of this strategy. Hong Kong is attempting to allow large-scale Bitcoin fund pools to operate under local rules, staying within a financial system that everyone is familiar with, rather than forcing Asian investors to rely solely on U.S. ETFs or offshore exchanges for large allocations every time.

Li Lin, founder of Huobi (HTX), plans to move the trading system and investment team of his family office Avenir Group into the Hong Kong-listed company Bitfire Group. Bitfire is preparing a regulated strategy priced in Bitcoin, called Alpha BTC, with CEO Livio Weng stating the aim is to attract over 10,000 BTC from investors.

This strategy is expected to use derivatives linked to Bitcoin or BlackRock's IBIT. Avenir has already become one of Asia's largest holders of U.S. Bitcoin ETF exposure through a position of 908 million dollars in IBIT.

From the size of this position, it is clear that Asian capital has already held a considerable amount of Bitcoin through Wall Street. Some are in U.S. ETFs, some in offshore platforms, and others held directly by listed companies, family offices, and crypto-native investors. These entities are very familiar with the asset itself but still need a structure that can be understood by banks, auditors, boards, and regulators.

Bitfire is targeting this gap: bringing funds back, placing them in Hong Kong's regulated market, and transforming Bitcoin exposure from a "backdoor" transaction into something close to local financial infrastructure.

What Hong Kong wants is not Bitcoin itself, but the "shell" that packages Bitcoin

The key to understanding this matter is to separate Bitcoin from the packaging that surrounds it.

Bitcoin itself circulates globally. Anyone can see the same price, send the same asset, and settle on the same network. However, large investors rarely touch it so directly. A family office, a listed company, a fund manager, or a high-net-worth individual typically requires custody, execution, risk control, audited statements, legal liabilities, and a regulatory entity with clear guidelines.

This is why U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have become a killer product. Investors can buy Bitcoin exposure through brokerage accounts, following familiar securities market tracks, with large asset management companies and regulated custodians in between.

CryptoSlate previously reported that capital associated with Hong Kong has already traveled this path, including Laurore Ltd.'s previously disclosed 436 million dollar IBIT position. The shell of the U.S. ETF solves a problem for global capital—making it easier to hold Bitcoin through traditional finance. But the cost is that a large number of entries are placed in the U.S. market.

The logic of the Hong Kong version is to locally control this shell. A regulated Hong Kong vehicle can engage with Asian investors in their time zone, following regional rules, and operate through the markets they are already using—stocks, structured products, wealth management, family office funds, channels that Hong Kong already possesses. For professional investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and even mainland China, this affects which lawyers review products, which banks handle the money, which court has jurisdiction, and which government agency provides regulation.

Over the past two years, Hong Kong has been preparing for this role.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has already approved licenses for virtual asset trading platforms, expanded the space for regulated products, and is attempting to enhance market liquidity by allowing licensed platforms to connect with global order books. In November 2025, the SFC noted it will allow locally licensed platforms to share global order books with overseas affiliated platforms under new rules—this is a pragmatic concession aimed at making Hong Kong's crypto market less isolated and more useful for legitimate capital.

Progress is also being made in stablecoins. Hong Kong passed a stablecoin bill in May 2025, establishing a licensing framework for fiat-backed issuers, which officially took effect in August of the same year. Standard Chartered Bank, Animoca, and HKT are among the first institutions participating in the regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin race. Although stablecoins and Bitcoin derivatives belong to different tracks, the direction is consistent: Hong Kong wants trading platforms, stablecoin issuers, asset management companies, and listed vehicles all to operate within a control framework of their own.

This makes the significance of Alpha BTC exceed that of a typical product launch. It is a crucial move in a larger game—transforming crypto from offshore activities into regulated capital formation.

Bitcoin is global, but the entry to Bitcoin is becoming local

Bitcoin's original promise is of a borderless currency, but now the largest pools of capital entering Bitcoin actually prefer to draw boundaries around their exposures. They want a regulator, a marketplace, a set of custody arrangements, a legal claim, and a manager they can call if something goes wrong.

This creates a tricky split: assets can flow globally within minutes, while the institutional structures around them rely on local laws, local politics, and local market practices.

This is where geographical competition begins.

The U.S. has dominated the regulated entry to Bitcoin through ETFs, with BlackRock's IBIT symbolizing Wall Street's control over this transaction. Offshore exchanges still dominate a substantial amount of retail and derivatives trading, especially for users looking for speed, leverage, and looser access.

Hong Kong is now aiming to capture a third lane: Asian capital that seeks regulated Bitcoin exposure but doesn’t want to rely on U.S. market infrastructure.

Why now? Because Singapore, Dubai, the U.S., and Europe are all building their own digital asset systems, and Hong Kong needs to contend for its presence as a financial center.

The crypto restrictions in mainland China remain strict, making Hong Kong's role both subtle and extremely useful. It can serve as a controllable offshore testing ground for financial experiments that Beijing would not fully allow. In 2024, Hong Kong launched spot crypto ETFs, subsequently expanded exchange license issuance, advanced stablecoin regulations, and explored a broader range of virtual asset products—this is a deliberately strategic hub.

Of course, there are limitations. The goal of 760 million dollars is enough to attract attention but is insignificant compared to the scale of the U.S. ETFs. The derivatives strategy itself also carries risks, especially when returns depend on options, basis trades, volatility, and timing. Hong Kong also has to navigate the political tension between its crypto ambitions and Beijing's discomfort with rapid offshore digital asset expansion. This situation has already occurred; last year reports indicated that Chinese regulators requested some brokers to pause their real-world asset (RWA) tokenization business in Hong Kong.

But Hong Kong's direction is already clear. Bitcoin adoption is entering a new phase, and the core issue is no longer whether institutions can buy this asset, but which system they will use when they do.

If more Asian capital holds through Hong Kong's regulatory structure, the flow of funds will begin to respond to Hong Kong's policy decisions, the Asian wealth management cycle, regional liquidity, and local investor behavior. Over time, price discovery may become less U.S.-centered, especially as Hong Kong's products expand from passive exposure to lending, derivatives, structured returns, and financial management.

Bitcoin may be traded as a global asset, but the channels for entering it are being cut into national and regional shells. A U.S. investor buys IBIT, a Hong Kong family office allocates Alpha BTC, an offshore trader uses perpetual contracts—they may all be expressing a view on Bitcoin, but they operate within completely different financial systems. These systems determine who can enter, the speed of capital withdrawal, and what happens during regulatory tensions.

This is also why Hong Kong's stablecoin layout is so important. CryptoSlate previously reported that Asia is trying to establish a counterweight to the dollar stablecoin empire, with its regulatory map showing how, by 2025, crypto laws will evolve from a pile of scattered warnings into a coherent national framework.

A Bitcoin fund pool, a stablecoin license, a licensed exchange, a listed asset management company—they each do their own thing. But when combined, they begin to resemble a local market structure.

Hong Kong's bet is that there is enough Bitcoin demand in Asia to support these local structures. The next stage of Bitcoin adoption will likely be shaped by the financial systems chosen by buyers. If Hong Kong succeeds, Asia will build its own fund pools around Bitcoin— with its own rules, its own capital flows, and its own voice in the market.