Behind Jack Ma's holding company spending $310 million on Ethereum: Hong Kong-listed companies are becoming obsessed with cryptocurrencies
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Behind Jack Ma's holding company spending $310 million on Ethereum: Hong Kong-listed companies are becoming obsessed with cryptocurrencies
The main arena for the coin-holding game is in the United States, while Hong Kong is better suited for networking and fundraising.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor | Xie Zhaoqing, Tencent News "Qianwang"
Hong Kong's financial circle is undergoing a narrative shift. The cryptocurrency sector, once distant from the gaze of traditional finance, has become the mainstream of this new narrative. While concepts like stablecoins and RWA are still gaining momentum, the wind of DAT has blown from the United States to Hong Kong.
DAT stands for Digital Asset Treasury. In the crypto world, DAT typically refers to companies or entities that hold and manage cryptocurrencies. In the current context, DAT most often corresponds to publicly listed companies that purchase tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana on the open market. Industry insiders call this action "hoarding coins," making these tokens core company assets, after which the listed company's stock price fluctuates with the token price. In traditional finance circles, this phenomenon is termed "coin-stock linkage."
"Coin-stock linkage has been a hot topic in Hong Kong's secondary market and crypto circles recently," said a person in charge of a US-listed company that already holds a significant amount of Bitcoin.
On August 27 alone, he attended eight events in Hong Kong, the vast majority of which involved discussions on coin-stock linkage. These included the launch ceremony of the "Hong Kong Digital Asset Listed Companies Association" at the Four Seasons Hotel, a forum hosted by New Huo Technology at the Grand Hyatt, and a forum by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao at the University of Hong Kong—all covering coin-stock linkage.
Changpeng Zhao stated on-site that some companies' finance departments, listed companies, and even state-owned or central enterprises currently cannot directly purchase digital currencies like Bitcoin. However, through the DAT model, these companies can indirectly hold such digital currencies, which is the significance of the DAT model. He also believes this group is actually very large, far larger than the crypto community. He also revealed that the Binance Group has been actively participating in similar projects recently.
p>Tencent News "Qianwang" learned that a fund in Hong Kong with investment from a state-owned enterprise has been actively planning coin-stock linkage projects recently. A financial professional in Hong Kong told Tencent News "Qianwang" that because state-owned enterprise funds cannot directly invest in crypto-related funds but can buy stocks, "there are currently no restrictions on buying stocks of listed companies holding Bitcoin."Public data shows that member companies of the Hong Kong Digital Asset Listed Companies Association, such as Boyaa Interactive and China Medical System, have already acquired significant amounts of Bitcoin and Ethereum on the open market.
A representative of a listed company present at the launch of the "Hong Kong Digital Asset Listed Companies Association" told Tencent News "Qianwang" that their company also has plans to hoard coins. According to their understanding, many member units of the association are also initiating similar plans. Public data shows the association has 49 member units, including 9 US-listed companies, 2 Shenzhen ChiNext companies, and the rest are Hong Kong-listed companies.
The Chinese Community's Coin-Stock Linkage Frenzy: Crypto Titans Like Changpeng Zhao and Li Lin Join the "Coin Hoarding" Army
Coin-stock linkage sparked a frenzy in the US stock market over half a year ago. US-listed companies buy Bitcoin or Ethereum on the open market, turning themselves into dedicated coin-hoarding DATs. Their stock prices then soar with Bitcoin's rise, yielding gains in the traditional stock market.
American billionaire Michael Saylor is the pioneer and success story of this model. In 2020, as founder and chairman of the US-listed software company MicroStrategy (formerly named Micro Strategy), he announced the inclusion of Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
His operation is very simple: issue debt or equity — raise money to buy Bitcoin — hope for token price increases combined with a stock "premium" to bring超额收益, meaning stock price appreciation. During this period, as the stock price kept rising, MicroStrategy continued to issue debt or equity to raise funds and buy more Bitcoin, repeating the cycle.
Although Michael Saylor has been continuously "talking up" the idea since 2020, Wall Street traders only flooded into the market in 2024, buying the stock as a proxy for the world's largest Bitcoin holder, coinciding with MicroStrategy's rising stock price.
Industry insiders explain that 2024 marked the early bull market after Bitcoin's fourth halving (April 20), with Bitcoin's price rising from around $45,000 at the year's start to a yearly high of around $103,000 (December 2024). MicroStrategy's stock price is highly correlated with its Bitcoin holdings.
Public data shows that since first buying Bitcoin in August 2022, MicroStrategy's stock price has surged about 30-fold, now with a market cap nearing $100 billion, comparable to Starbucks—far exceeding Bitcoin's own 11-fold increase over the same period. As of Q2, MicroStrategy holds approximately 630,000 Bitcoins.
This has also brought astonishing returns to early traders who built positions in MicroStrategy stock.
Other companies began竞相复制ing MicroStrategy's strategy. Crypto data firm Architect Partners reported that in the US stock market, 90 listed companies had Bitcoin on their balance sheets in Q1, a number that rose to 142 by Q2. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2025, 61 US-listed companies announced plans to raise $30.6 billion for purchasing digital currencies like Bitcoin, most occurring in Q2.
"The crypto world has never seen such large-scale coin-buying actions," said a person in charge of a US-listed company with years in crypto, speaking in Hong Kong. His listed company also holds a considerable amount of Bitcoin.
This frenzy has begun spreading to Asia, such as Japan. Public data shows Japan's most notable imitator is Metaplanet Inc., dubbed the "Asian version of MicroStrategy." Metaplanet was originally a budget hotel company struggling to turn a profit in Japan,转型ing in May 2024 to首次买入 Bitcoin. As of September 3, the company holds 20,000 Bitcoins, ranking sixth globally in Bitcoin holdings.
Compared to Japan's aggressiveness, Hong Kong's coin-hoarding frenzy is just beginning. Public data shows the Hong Kong-listed company holding the most Bitcoin currently is Boyaa Interactive. As of late August, its holdings are 3,670.
Recently, listed companies including China Medical System, China Renaissance Capital, Yunfeng Financial, and Coolpad先后 announced认购 Ethereum, Binance Coin, Bitcoin, and other tokens as balance sheet assets. Before this, a few Hong Kong-listed companies like Meitu and Guofu Quantum already held digital currency assets like Bitcoin, but the amounts were not large.
Data provided by Zhang Huachen, president of the Hong Kong Digital Asset Listed Companies Association, shows that among current Hong Kong-listed companies, if只计算ing the market value of held digital assets and digital assets involved in applying for and operating compliant licenses, the total does not exceed $20 billion.
Tencent News "Qianwang" learned that among the association's 49 member units, 38 are Hong Kong-listed companies. Most of these listed companies have ideas or plans to expand coin hoarding, including Guofu Quantum. The total market cap of these members is roughly $200 billion. However, Tencent News "Qianwang" has not yet learned the specific coin-hoarding plans of these companies.
Zhang Huachen, who has been involved in crypto for years, is relatively optimistic. He believes listed companies are the best媒介 for打通ing traditional finance and digital asset liquidity, and there remains significant exploration space for coin-stock linkage between the current coin holdings and market caps of Hong Kong-listed companies.
Compared to DAT companies, the capital side in Hong Kong is even more enthusiastic about coin hoarding. Changpeng Zhao's family office, YZi Labs, has begun布局 in Asia, including the Hong Kong market. Public data shows this family office manages over $100 billion in assets.
Recently, the office's负责人, Ella Zhang, has been频繁展业 in Asia, hoping to加大 BNB hoarding projects and future ecosystem development. This includes supporting a fund company named B Strategy in raising $1 billion for "coin hoarding" activities, announced in late August. This is also the first "BNB" version DAT company supported by the Zhao family in Asia and, so far, their largest funding commitment globally.
Earlier, YZi Labs also announced support for China Renaissance Capital Holdings' $100 million Binance Coin (BNB) hoarding project, hoping the latter can become a Hong Kong-listed "BNB Strategy." However, after China Renaissance announced the plan on August 22, its stock price rose slightly from HK$8.6 per share to HK$9.14 before开始下跌.
Tencent News "Qianwang" learned that key members of B Strategy's founding team are based in Hong Kong, but this "coin hoarding" project has not yet announced a specific listed company target, which is likely to be a US-listed company.
A知情人士 familiar with YZi Labs told Tencent News "Qianwang" that recently, many in Hong Kong's financial circle have approached YZi Labs for合作, possibly hundreds of individuals (or teams), and projects may陆续落地.
YZi Labs, as the出资方, provides funds to asset management companies like China Renaissance and B Strategy. The latter then uses their own listed company platforms to buy tokens or finds a listed company as the主体 to purchase tokens.
Meanwhile, Li Lin, one of the three major Chinese crypto figures already常驻 in Hong Kong and founder of Huobi, has also begun摩拳擦掌 to start "coin hoarding" projects.
On August 27, Li Lin's Hong Kong-listed company, New Huo Technology, announced it would invest $500 million to启动 a "coin hoarding" project with no上限 on scale. On the afternoon of August 28, New Huo Technology CEO Weng Xiaoqi revealed to Tencent News "Qianwang" that the project is very popular in the Hong Kong market, with investor认购额 already exceeding $500 million.
Additionally, Tencent News "Qianwang" learned that active Chinese crypto investors like Shen Bo and Meitu founder Cai Wensheng have also相继开始涉足 "coin hoarding" projects.
The Main Stage for Coin Hoarding is in the US; Hong Kong is Better for Linking and Fundraising
"Hong Kong's coin hoarding heat is not on the asset side, meaning the listed company targets, but on the capital side, meaning the funds buying digital currencies like Bitcoin," a Hong Kong financial professional planning a coin hoarding project told Tencent News "Qianwang." Many funds in Hong Kong are very interested in joining hoarding plans, rather than creating another Hong Kong version of MicroStrategy on the Hong Kong stock market.
This relates to the fundraising flexibility of the Hong Kong stock market. According to the rules of the coin hoarding game, the most important thing for the listed entity is fundraising: issue debt or equity — raise money to buy Bitcoin — hope for token price increases combined with a stock "premium" to bring超额收益. As the stock price rises, the listed company continues to issue debt or equity to raise funds and buy more Bitcoin, repeating the cycle.
This is也被一些业内人士称为 the "flywheel theory": the more Bitcoin a listed company buys, the higher its stock price rises, allowing it to raise more funds to buy even more Bitcoin.
"Traditional stock exchanges have天然丰富的融资工具. In this regard, the US stock market is far more flexible than Hong Kong's," a高管 of a US-listed company told Tencent News "Qianwang." This is also why many coin hoarding project parties seek合作 with his US-listed company.
Currently, common fundraising tools for hoarding projects in the US market, besides issuing debt, are PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) and ATM (At-The-Market offering) for issuing equity. Their共同点 is higher flexibility and speed compared to other fundraising methods. PIPE can quickly obtain regulatory approval within days and targets non-public investors, similar to Hong Kong's定向增发.
ATM requires filing a registration statement with the SEC (typically Form S-3),说明ing the offering size and plan, and接受ing dual supervision from the SEC and FINRA, but the offering can occur at any time.
This is相当于 obtaining a credit line后, the listed company can, based on market prices, sell股票分阶段 to the open market, raising funds in real-time, with subsequent stock sales可持续ing for months or longer. This fundraising method is also called "money printing machine" fundraising, being relatively simple and efficient.
However, there are some limits: annual fundraising via this model cannot exceed one-third of the listed company's流通股市值. Hong Kong mainly raises funds through定向增发, placements, and issuing new shares, but each fundraising requires regulatory approval and completing the full审批流程.
In terms of fundraising tools, US-listed companies are明显比港股灵活. Taking MicroStrategy as an example, since 2024, the company has多次 raised funds through PIPE and ATM, especially in the past year, raising over $4 billion and $24 billion respectively through these two methods.
As of September 2, MicroStrategy's market cap exceeds $98.85 billion, holding 629,370 Bitcoins valued at approximately $70 billion, with an average cost per Bitcoin of about $73,320.
"Hong Kong remains a paradise for the wealthy, including crypto大佬们, who are accustomed to聚联 here," an investor扎根 in crypto for years told Tencent News "Qianwang." Hong Kong is suitable for大佬们 to gather,攒 projects, find money, or凑钱, but ultimately, for project落地, one must go to the US.
Recently, many crypto-related events have落地 in Hong Kong, with活跃的大佬身影 including but not limited to Justin Sun, Li Lin, and Changpeng Zhao.
However, they still believe the US is the main stage for coin-stock linkage. Besides便捷 financing for listed entities, US stock market liquidity is also整体比香港好很多. After the stock prices of these hoarding companies rise, sufficient liquidity is needed to support them.
The Game of the Wealthy: Single Project Funding Size at Least $1 Billion
Some more cautious investors believe the market is already seeing an unreasonable coin hoarding gold rush. These hoarding companies are rapidly and大规模地批量复制ing the MicroStrategy model, raising funds from traditional financial markets to buy tokens like Bitcoin, which becomes the core of the hoarding project company. This includes不少小市值,素质较差的上市公司.
Meanwhile, some hoarding companies
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