Huobi founder launches $1 billion trust dedicated to Ethereum

Huobi founder Li Lin joins forces with influential Asian investors to launch billion-dollar Ethereum trust. Supported by big names in Asian investment, the project aims to structure the accumulation of ETH within a regulated framework. While eyes remain on Bitcoin and its ETFs, Ethereum is gaining ground as a treasury asset. This operation marks a step in the network’s rise to institutional power.

A historic fundraising for a strategic Ethereum trust

While Robert Kiyosaki bet on Ethereum and silver to protect himself from the weakness of the dollar, Li Lin, founder of Huobi and current president of Avenir Capital, joined forces with several historic figures in Asian crypto to launch an asset trust focused exclusively on Ethereum this October 18.

The objective is to create a regulated investment structure to capture the growing demand from financial institutions wishing to gain exposure to ETH. The group plans to structure the Ethereum trust through a Nasdaq-listed company.

This ambitious project from the founder of Huobi relies on funding already secured to the tune of $1 billion. Here are the main elements to remember regarding this lifting:

• $500 million comes from HongShan Capital Group, formerly known as Sequoia China;
• $200 million was provided by Avenir Capital, the fund founded by Li Lin in Hong Kong;
• The rest of the funds would be supplemented by other private investors;
• The trust's co-founders include Shen Bo (Fenbushi Capital), Xiao Feng (HashKey Group), and Cai Wensheng (Meitu Inc.), all early investors in Ethereum as early as 2015;
• The trust aims to provide regulated institutional exposure to ETH, in a legally structured format, potentially attractive to the US and Asian markets.

This operation reflects a desire to structure investment products adapted to the standards of traditional financial markets, while capitalizing on the favorable momentum for Ethereum.

Towards an institutional standardization of Ethereum investment?

Beyond the financial operation, the announcement of the Ethereum trust fits into a context of transformation of the role of Ethereum in global finance. At the Digital Assets Summit (DAS) held in London this year, several industry figures highlighted the structural rise of Ethereum as an infrastructure platform for institutional finance.

During a panel, Joseph Lubin, CEO of Consensys, declared “that Ethereum attracts renewed confidence from institutions thanks to its advances in scalability and compliance”. For his part, Joseph Chalom, co-CEO of SharpLink and former BlackRock executive, affirmed that despite the recent upheavals in the market, “Ethereum remains a cornerstone of future tokenized financial solutions”.

Speakers highlighted several catalysts for the institutional adoption of Ethereum, including on-chain fund issuance, the tokenization of real assets, and the interoperability of decentralized systems with current regulatory standards.

It is precisely these elements which justify, according to observers, a massive renewed interest in regulated exposure to ETH. In this context, the strategy of the trust carried by Li Lin and his partners appears to be a long-term anticipation of a major financial shift.

This initiative could help redefine the competitive landscape between bitcoin and Ethereum in the institutional space. While bitcoin establishes itself as a store of value with 172 holding companies, Ethereum, via this trust, positions itself as a programmable financial infrastructure. If the launch planned for the coming weeks keeps its promises, it could catalyze other initiatives of the same type, thus reinforcing the trend towards the financialization of blockchains.