Ether steadies as Li Lin denies Huobi tie to Trend flows

No: Li Lin denies ties to Trend Research or ‘Garrett’

Huobi founder rejects investment claims linking him to Trend Research or an entity called “Garrett,” and he denied any role in forced liquidations tied to the recent market downturn, according to Weex. He also stated that neither his personal holdings nor companies associated with him, including Avenir Group, reduced Bitcoin or Ethereum positions during the episode.

He further clarified that his ETH and BTC positions remained unchanged, pushing back on speculation that a Hong Kong fund liquidation connected to him triggered the sell-off. The statement centers on beneficial ownership and execution, emphasizing that Huobi and Avenir’s activities are separate from third-party trading firms.

Why it matters: Huobi, Avenir distinct from Trend Research activity

Allegations in fast-moving markets often conflate unrelated entities, but distinguishing beneficial ownership, execution venues, and counterparty identity is essential to assess risk transmission. Public comments indicate Avenir’s approach centers on longer-term ETH exposure managed internally rather than external mandates at Trend Research.

“no investment ties to Trend Research or any entity called ‘Garrett,’” said Li Lin, founder of Huobi and chairman of Avenir Group, who added that neither his holdings nor Avenir sold BTC or ETH during the downturn.

“around 80% of ETH held by Li Lin’s family office is staked and 95% of its funds are managed internally,” said Du Jun, co-founder of ABCDE Alliance, supporting the separation between Avenir’s positions and Trend Research’s trading.

Immediate impact: panic eases as on-chain data clarifies sell-off

Market anxiety initially spiked on fears of a large forced liquidation, but sentiment stabilized after the denial and subsequent data-driven reporting, as reported by LiveBitcoinNews. In that coverage, on-chain evidence was cited to show Trend Research completed a major Ethereum disposal, while the clarification from Li Lin helped restore confidence.

The narrative that Huobi or Avenir triggered the move was diluted as on-chain data debunks Huobi liquidation rumors. This separation of entities, backed by traceable transactions, helped investors recalibrate risk perceptions around exchange-linked selling pressure.

At the time of this writing, Huobi Token (HT) traded near $0.1761 with sentiment described as bearish and very high volatility around 10.29%. Additional context shows 13 green days in the last 30 (43%), an RSI(14) near 34.48, and simple moving averages around $0.2060 (50-day) and $0.2732 (200-day), all presented for background only.

How investigators traced Trend Research’s 658,168 ETH without Li Lin links

As reported by Blockonomi, on-chain investigators attributed deposits and outflows to Trend Research addresses that cumulatively disposed of about 658,168 ETH across eight days, concluding with a final residual transfer of roughly 0.148 ETH to Binance. The figures indicate a full exit from the identified ETH tranche and document realized losses through exchange flows.

The data show that investigators used wallet clustering, identifiable exchange deposit patterns, and end-to-end transaction paths to segregate Trend Research’s activity from wallets associated with Huobi or Avenir. While blockchain forensics cannot prove universal negatives, the published traces do not show overlap with Li Lin’s holdings and are consistent with the view that Trend Research’s 658,168 ETH sell-off was independent of Huobi or Avenir.