Li Lin plans $1B ether treasury via Nasdaq shell

Li Lin, founder of the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange and chair of Avenir Capital, is organizing a roughly $1 billion fund to accumulate and hold ether as a core reserve asset, people familiar with the plans said. The group, led by prominent Asia-based ethereum backers, is exploring the acquisition of a Nasdaq-listed shell company to establish the vehicle and expects to announce the initiative within the next two to three weeks.

Li has assembled a team that includes Fenbushi Capital cofounder Shen Bo, HashKey Group chief executive Xiao Feng, and Meitu founder Cai Wensheng, the people said. The project has already secured about $1 billion in commitments, including approximately $200 million from Avenir Capital and roughly $500 million from regional institutional investors such as HongShan Capital Group, according to the same sources. Talks are ongoing about transaction structure and governance, the people said.

Organizers intend for the new entity to operate as a publicly oriented digital asset treasury or trust that will accumulate ether on behalf of investors and hold it as a corporate reserve. Using a Nasdaq-listed shell company is intended to provide an established corporate...