On April 20, 2026, Hong Kong-listed Sinohope Group (1611.HK) issued an announcement, officially announcing the joining of former chief economist of Northeast Securities, Fu Peng, as its chief economist. As soon as the news came out, Sinohope’s stock price rose by more than 22% during the session, and closed up nearly 18% on the day.
A few days later, Fu Peng also became popular on X. His tweets sparked a lot of debate among crypto-native users, and then the community sentiment was further intensified by blocking many KOLs. People were scolding him, supporting him, and analyzing him. The Chinese Twitter circle was lively for several days. However, perhaps all kinds of voices are part of this momentum. Because from the beginning, we were not his target customers.
Why does Sinohope want to introduce people from traditional finance? In April of this year, Sinohope Group (Bitfire) first introduced Fu Peng as its chief economist, and then announced the acquisition of Avenir Group’s investment team of about 20 people and supporting trading system, incorporating its Alpha BTC options strategy into the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Type 9 regulatory framework to launch Bitcoin asset management services. Behind the intensive actions is a comprehensive transformation that is underway. At the end of August last year, Li Lin promoted Weng Xiaoqi, a former Huobi executive, to serve as co-CEO, and officially announced the company’s comprehensive transformation, with the goal of upgrading from an OTC trader to a private banking-level digital asset management platform.
Financial figures may illustrate how urgent this transformation is. In fiscal year 2025, Sinohope Group’s total revenue was approximately HK$8.661 billion, a year-on-year surge of approximately 451%, but it still faced losses despite the surge in revenue. Specifically, almost all of the company’s revenue comes from helping customers match large transactions and earn price differences, which is the OTC bulk trading business. In fiscal year 2025, this business achieved revenue of approximately HK$8.257 billion, and the cost of sales was as high as approximately HK$8.256 billion, resulting in a gross profit of less than HK$2.00 million. On the other hand, the company’s asset management business generated revenue of approximately HK$27.20 million in fiscal year 2025, and assets under management increased from approximately $88.70 million at the beginning of the year to approximately $138.60 million at the end of the year, an increase of more than 56% in half a year. Although the revenue scale is still small, it is completely different from the trading logic of OTC. Its management fees and performance fees will continue to accumulate as AUM grows.
This is also the logic behind Sinohope’s merger with Avenir Group’s investment team. It is reported that Avenir Group’s Alpha BTC strategy is to sell call options to collect premiums while holding BTC spot, with a target annualized return of 5% to 7% and historical drawdowns controlled at around 1%. From the product design itself, BTC is always托管in the customer’s own account, and Sinohope only obtains API trading execution permission and has no withdrawal rights – the separation of asset control and strategy execution rights is the operating logic of standard asset management products under the Hong Kong SFC Type 9 regulatory framework. Bitfire CEO Livio Weng said that with the addition of the new team, Bitfire has received initial investment intentions of approximately $500.00 million from family offices and listed companies. However, there is often a distance between intended funds and actual arrival.
The money that Sinohope is targeting is not crypto-native users, but high-net-worth individuals, family offices, listed companies, and corporate funds considering diversified asset allocation. These people may not understand white papers or look at K-lines, but they must go through compliance review, risk control assessment, and investment committee approval before making decisions. If any level is stuck, it will be difficult to continue. How to make traditional funds that have never been exposed to crypto products willing to step into this door is exactly the problem that Fu Peng has to solve.
The strategic value of Fu Peng to Sinohope cannot only be seen from his title, but also from who his audience is. Former chief economist of Northeast Securities, millions of fans in the traditional financial circle, active in Douyin, WeChat video accounts and various offline closed-door forums, these are all labels of Fu Peng. The circle he has been cultivating for a long time is the core decision-making level of listed company executives, private bank clients, and family offices. This group of people is exactly the target customer that Sinohope needs most and is most difficult to reach. To some extent, the real problem that Fu Peng solves is the cognitive threshold.
For traditional funds, the main obstacles to crypto products are that they cannot understand them and do not trust them, and what Fu Peng is best at is the macro packaging required for this narrative. The framework he has built in the traditional financial circle for many years – the decline of globalization dividends, the structural challenges faced by the traditional economic system, and the need for the old order to find new value anchors – naturally provides a foundation for companies to re-examine the allocation of cash reserves. Therefore, it is not difficult for Fu Peng to persuade traditional listed companies to convert the cash portion on their balance sheets into Bitcoin. For Sinohope, having someone who speaks in a macro-economic language familiar to customers to endorse it will greatly reduce customer acquisition friction.
This logic is not new. Before launching the Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock’s first step was to organize analysts with traditional financial backgrounds to write research reports. Many crypto KOLs mentioned that Fu Peng belongs to the macro megaphone. By reading his content, you can know what is happening in the big market. As for following him to trade, that is another matter. This also accurately describes Fu Peng’s positioning in this ecosystem – his role is to provide narratives, and trading execution is not within his responsibilities. For Sinohope, which has just incorporated a trading team, this is exactly the role they need. In his debut after joining Sinohope, Fu Peng proposed the FICC+C framework at the Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit, incorporating crypto assets into the traditional asset allocation system. The audience was institutional investors with traditional financial backgrounds. This speech did not introduce any specific products, but
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Sinohope’s Strategic Pivot: Bridging Traditional Finance and Crypto Through Institutional Transformation
The recent appointment of Fu Peng as Chief Economist at Hong Kong-listed Sinohope Group (1611.HK) represents more than just a personnel change—it signals a fundamental strategic transformation with far-reaching implications for the crypto market. This move underscores a critical evolution in the digital asset space: the systematic integration of cryptocurrency into traditional financial frameworks through regulated, institutional-grade products.
The Strategic Imperative Behind Sinohope’s Transformation
Sinohope’s financial metrics reveal the urgency behind this pivot. Despite a 451% year-on-year revenue surge to HK$8.661 billion in fiscal 2025, the company’s business model is precariously balanced. Their OTC bulk trading business generated HK$8.257 billion in revenue but incurred HK$8.256 billion in costs, resulting in a gross profit of less than HK$2 million. This razor-thin margin highlights the unsustainable nature of pure-play OTC operations.
In contrast, the asset management division, though currently generating only HK$27.20 million in revenue, demonstrated 56% AUM growth to HK$138.60 million in just six months. This business model offers scalability through management and performance fees—a stark contrast to the volume-dependent, low-margin OTC operations. The acquisition of Avenir Group’s Alpha BTC strategy, which targets 5-7% annualized returns with minimal drawdowns through covered call writing, positions Sinohope to capture institutional flows.
Fu Peng: The Traditional Finance Bridge
Fu Peng’s appointment is strategically brilliant precisely because his audience isn’t crypto natives. With millions of followers in traditional finance circles and established credibility among Chinese corporate executives, family offices, and private bank clients, Fu Peng addresses Sinohope’s core challenge: overcoming the cognitive and trust barriers that prevent traditional capital from entering crypto markets.
His framework for incorporating digital assets into traditional portfolios—what he terms “FICC+C”—provides the macroeconomic narrative necessary for institutional adoption. By positioning Bitcoin as a value anchor in a post-globalization economic landscape, Fu Peng gives traditional decision-makers a familiar framework for understanding crypto’s role in asset allocation. This narrative approach mirrors BlackRock’s strategy prior to launching their Bitcoin ETF, using traditional financial language to demystify crypto products.
Regulatory Arbitrage and Market Positioning
Sinohope’s move into Hong Kong’s SFC Type 9 regulatory framework is significant. By establishing a clear separation between asset custody and strategy execution—ensuring client BTC remains in self-custody while granting Sinohope only API trading permissions—the company creates a product structure that aligns with traditional asset management expectations while satisfying regulatory requirements.
This approach reduces counterparty risk, addresses custody concerns, and provides the operational transparency that institutional investors demand. The reportedly $500 million in initial investment intentions from family offices and listed companies, though not yet realized, indicates strong market appetite for such products if properly structured.
Market Implications and Investment Considerations
For Bitcoin, this development represents another step toward institutional normalization. As more traditional players enter the space through regulated channels, we should expect increased price stability alongside gradual, sustained appreciation driven by systematic allocation rather than speculative trading.
However, the market impact extends beyond Bitcoin. Sinohope’s success could catalyze similar transformations among other crypto-native firms seeking to institutionalize their offerings. We may see a bifurcation in the market: companies that successfully bridge traditional finance and crypto will likely capture significant institutional flows, while pure-play crypto firms face increasing pressure to professionalize their operations.
For investors, several opportunities emerge:
1. Identifying crypto companies with credible plans for institutional transformation
2. Monitoring Hong Kong-regulated digital asset managers as they scale
3. Evaluating traditional financial firms entering the crypto space
The risks, however, remain substantial. Regulatory environments can shift rapidly, and the execution risk of transitioning business models should not be underestimated. Additionally, the performance of these new asset management products will be closely scrutinized, and any significant drawdowns could temporarily reverse institutional adoption trends.
Conclusion: The New Paradigm for Crypto Adoption
Sinohope’s strategic pivot represents a maturation of the crypto market. By targeting traditional financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals rather than crypto natives, the company is positioning itself at the forefront of a new wave of adoption. The appointment of Fu Peng underscores a critical lesson for the crypto industry: to attract institutional capital, crypto products must be packaged in familiar terms, structured with traditional risk management frameworks, and delivered through trusted intermediaries.
As more companies follow this path, we will likely see a gradual but fundamental shift in crypto market dynamics—from retail-driven volatility to institutionally-driven stability. For investors, the key will be identifying those firms that can successfully navigate this transition while maintaining their core value proposition in an increasingly competitive landscape.