Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
On September 2, 2025, Hong Kong-listed company Yunfeng Financial Group announced that it has utilized $44 million of its own cash reserves to purchase a total of 10,000 Ethereum in the open market as a strategic reserve asset.
In fact, as early as July, the board of Yunfeng Financial announced that the group plans to lay out its strategy in cutting-edge fields such as Web 3, real-world assets (RWA), digital currencies, ESG zero-carbon assets, and artificial intelligence (AI), and will increase its investment in digital currencies.
Behind this series of bold moves, two key figures, Jack Ma and Xiao Feng, have become the focus of industry attention. Jack Ma may be an indirect shareholder of Yunfeng Financial. Meanwhile, Xiao Feng, as an independent non-executive director of Yunfeng Financial, is likely to play a crucial role in the company's strategic decision-making process.
What is Yunfeng Financial?
According to its official website, Yunfeng Financial is an innovative fintech group listed on the main board in Hong Kong, with sectors including securities brokerage, asset management, insurance, and fintech.
Yunfeng Financial was formerly known as Ruidong Group, which was an established securities company in Hong Kong. In 2015, the controlling shareholder of Yunfeng Fund, Jade Passion Ltd, acquired approximately 56% of Ruidong's shares for HKD 2.68 billion, and in 2016, Ruidong was renamed Yunfeng Financial.
Yunfeng Fund was jointly initiated by Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Yu Feng, the founder of 聚众传媒, in 2010. It is a private equity investment institution focusing on hard technology, enterprise services, green energy, modern agriculture, biotechnology, and consumer sectors.
Yu Feng currently serves as the chairman of Yunfeng Fund, chairman and non-executive director of Yunfeng Financial Group, and is also a director of Yunfeng Financial Holdings, Key Imagination, and Jade Passion. Yunfeng Financial Holdings, Key Imagination, and Jade Passion are the main shareholders of Yunfeng Financial.
Equity and Control Structure
First, regarding the shareholding situation of directors and key executives:
According to the mid-year report of 2025, Yu Feng (Group Chairman and Non-Executive Director) effectively controls 47.25% of Yunfeng Financial's shares through a multi-layered holding structure. The specific path is as follows: Key Imagination Limited owns 73.21% of the issued share capital of Jade Passion; Yunfeng Financial Holdings owns 91% of the issued share capital of Key Imagination; and Yu Feng owns 70.15% of the issued share capital of Yunfeng Financial Holdings. Both Key Imagination and Jade Passion are major shareholders of Yunfeng Financial.
Yunfeng Financial's executive director Huang Xin is the sole shareholder of Perfect Merit Limited, which holds 900 shares of Key Imagination, accounting for 9% of Key Imagination's equity.
Aside from the disclosures above, Yunfeng Financial's mid-year report states that as of June 30, 2025, there are no special reporting requirements for the shareholdings of the company's directors, executives, and their associates in the company's and its affiliates' shares or bonds.
Source: Yunfeng Financial 2025 Mid-Year Report
Next, regarding the shareholding situation of major shareholders and other individuals, the equity situation of major shareholders and other individuals holding 5% or more of Yunfeng Financial's issued shares is as follows:
As mentioned above, Yu Feng effectively controls 47.25% of Yunfeng Financial's shares through a multi-layered holding structure.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company holds 960,000,000 shares through its 100% holding company MassMutual International LLC, with a shareholding percentage of 24.82%.
Aside from the two major shareholders mentioned above, no other individuals hold 5% or more of the company's equity or short positions.
Actor Zhao Wei's ex-husband Huang Youlong previously held 26.79% of Jade Passion Limited's equity and was once a non-executive director of Yunfeng Financial. In January 2018, Huang Youlong resigned from his position as a non-executive director of Yunfeng Financial.
The Roles of Jack Ma and Xiao Feng
Market speculation suggests that although Jack Ma does not hold a management position in Yunfeng Financial and Yunfeng Fund, he still has significant influence over the company's strategy through his equity holdings in related entities of Yunfeng Fund.
According to a report by Shanghai Securities Journal in October 2024, the related company of Yunfeng Fund, Shanghai Yunfeng Investment Management Co., Ltd., underwent a business information change on October 16, 2024, reducing its registered capital from 290 million yuan to 10 million yuan, a decrease of over 96.55%. Yunfeng Investment was established on July 1, 2010, as the executing entity of Yunfeng Fund's first RMB fund, with an initial registered capital of 10 million yuan. After the first fund completed fundraising and entered the investment phase on December 9, 2013, the company's registered capital increased to 290 million yuan. Among them, Yu Feng held 60%, and Jack Ma held 40%.
Shanghai Securities Journal reported that subsequently, Yunfeng Investment experienced several changes in investors. Before this capital reduction, Huang Xin contributed 174 million yuan, holding 60% and being the largest shareholder; Jack Ma contributed 116 million yuan, holding 40% and being the second-largest shareholder. After this capital reduction, Huang Xin and Jack Ma's contributions were reduced to 6 million yuan and 4 million yuan, respectively, while still holding 60% and 40%. The subsequent changes in shareholding are currently unclear, and Jack Ma's specific shareholding situation in Yunfeng Financial is also unknown.
Another key figure, Xiao Feng, has served as an independent non-executive director of Yunfeng Financial since March 2019. As a leading figure in the blockchain field in China and chairman of Wanxiang Blockchain, he does not participate in daily operations but may provide professional judgment and supervisory opinions on major strategic decisions in the board, especially regarding Web3, digital currency, and blockchain investments. The market generally believes that he has provided important guidance in Yunfeng Financial's recent investment decisions regarding ETH and the Pharos public chain.
Source: Yunfeng Financial
Yunfeng Financial's Recent Web3 Initiatives
Since July 2025, Yunfeng Financial has been steadily advancing its Web3 blueprint with clear rhythm and strong execution:
In July, Yunfeng Financial Group announced that based on its existing insurance and fintech businesses, it will strategically lay out in cutting-edge fields such as Web 3.0, real-world assets (RWA), digital currencies, ESG zero-carbon assets, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as explore innovative applications connecting these cutting-edge fields with the group's insurance company.
In the mid-term performance report submitted by Yunfeng Financial Group in August 2025, it stated that Yunfeng Financial plans to enter a new era of Web3, and its licensed securities company has applied to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission for upgrading licenses 1, 4, and 9. Once approved, it will be able to provide comprehensive virtual asset-related trading services and manage investment portfolios of virtual assets. The official website of Yunfeng Financial shows that its subsidiaries hold licenses 1, 4, and 9 granted by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Additionally, the group holds a long-term insurance business license from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority and is qualified as an approved trustee for the Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund through its holding of MassMutual International Limited.
"Carbon Chain" Plan: On August 29, Yunfeng Financial's MassMutual Insurance Holdings Company announced the completion of comprehensive on-chain carbon credit asset trading data in collaboration with the Macau International Carbon Emission Trading Exchange, officially launching the "Carbon Chain" (Carbon Trading BlockChain) plan focused on high-quality carbon credits.
Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Ant Group and Strategic Investment in Pharos Public Chain: On September 1, Yunfeng Financial Group announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Ant Digital Technology and made a strategic investment in Layer1 public chain Pharos Network Technology Limited (Pharos). The two parties will jointly and compliantly expand into cutting-edge fields such as tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and the next generation of the internet (Web3) through the Pharos high-performance public chain platform.
Purchase of 10,000 ETH as Strategic Reserve Asset: On September 2, Yunfeng Financial Group announced that its board of directors has approved the purchase of Ethereum (ETH) in the open market as a reserve asset. As of the date of this announcement, the group has cumulatively purchased 10,000 ETH in the open market, with a total investment cost of $44 million (from the group's internal cash reserves). In the future, the company will continue to increase its investment in digital assets. The board believes that incorporating ETH into the company's strategic reserve assets aligns with the group's layout in cutting-edge fields such as Web3 and can provide critical infrastructure support for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization activities. Furthermore, Yunfeng Financial will explore potential application models for ETH in the group's insurance business, as well as innovative business scenarios compatible with Web3. At the same time, holding ETH as a reserve asset can optimize the group's asset structure and reduce reliance on traditional currencies.
In addition to ETH, Yunfeng Financial plans to explore the inclusion of diversified mainstream digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and SOL into the company's strategic reserve assets.
Yunfeng Financial clearly states that the purchase of ETH is not only to optimize the asset structure but also to support the infrastructure for RWA tokenization activities, promote the group's technological innovation in the Web3 field, and explore the potential applications of ETH in insurance business (such as policy collateral, payments, etc.).
Conclusion
Yunfeng Financial's recent series of actions outlines a complete roadmap for a traditional fintech company transitioning to Web3: from top-level strategic design, talent and license preparation, to building partnerships and infrastructure (with Ant Group and Pharos), and finally to direct asset allocation (purchasing ETH).
This is far from a simple speculative investment; it is a well-considered, systematic strategic upgrade. Its core purpose is to embrace blockchain technology and seize the opportunity in the future Web3 finance landscape composed of RWA tokenization, digital currencies, and DeFi, becoming a bridge connecting the traditional world and the digital world.
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