Yunfeng Financial Group (0376.HK), indirectly held by Jack Ma, announced on the 2nd that it has accumulated the purchase of 10,000 Ethereum (ETH), with a total investment cost of 44 million dollars. This move not only triggered a nearly 10% intraday increase in the stock price, but is also seen as the latest layout of Alibaba founder Jack Ma in the Web3 field. Unlike in the past, Yunfeng Financial's announcement directly points to the strategic significance of ETH as a reserve asset, aiming to optimize the asset structure and reduce dependence on traditional currencies. As a financial group indirectly held by Jack Ma, this move quickly triggered a chain reaction in the global crypto community and traditional financial circles, highlighting the accelerated embrace of digital assets by institutional investors.
The group clearly stated in the announcement that the funds for this purchase come from internal cash reserves, and the purchased ETH will be listed as investment assets. The company's board of directors believes that including ETH in strategic reserves is in line with the group's layout in cutting-edge fields such as Web3 and Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization. This is not an isolated event: since August, Yunfeng Financial has been active, including releasing interim results, obtaining Web3-related licenses, advancing carbon infrastructure and RWA projects, and strategic cooperation with public chains. Entering September, the pace of announcements has further accelerated, culminating in this ETH purchase, demonstrating the group's determination to transform into crypto finance.
According to public data, Jack Ma indirectly holds about 11.15% of Yunfeng Financial through Yunfeng Fund. In Shanghai Yunfeng Xinchuang Equity Investment Center, Jack Ma holds 40% of the shares. Although he has no voting rights, his influence cannot be ignored. Yunfeng Fund was founded in 2010 by Jack Ma and David Yu, mainly focusing on technology, finance, and consumer sectors. The predecessor of Yunfeng Financial can be traced back to Man Sang International Securities, established in 1982, which was injected and controlled by Yunfeng Fund in 2015 with an investment of 3.9 billion HKD, transforming into a fintech platform with multiple licenses such as securities, insurance, and asset management. This ETH purchase is interpreted as Jack Ma's extension from the Alipay era to the blockchain field. Earlier, at an entrepreneurs' symposium in February 2025, Jack Ma proposed the concept of "technology encapsulation", that is, embedding algorithms into real-world scenarios, and Ethereum, as the core of smart contracts, is precisely the financial infrastructure of this concept.
After the announcement, Yunfeng Financial's stock price rose nearly 10% intraday. In the crypto community, this news was jokingly referred to as "Jack Ma joins the E-Guard", and Yunfeng Financial's announcement mentioned that it would explore the application of ETH in insurance business and innovative scenarios adapted to Web3. In addition to ETH, the company plans to include mainstream digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL). This echoes the global institutional entry trend: for example, BlackRock's ETHA ETF attracted 1 billion dollars in a single day, and Standard Chartered predicts ETH will reach 7,500 dollars by the end of the year. The RWA track is seen as a trillion-level opportunity, and Yunfeng Financial emphasizes that ETH can provide infrastructure support for RWA tokenization. RWA refers to putting real assets such as real estate and bonds on-chain, realizing tokenized circulation, and improving liquidity and efficiency. Jack Ma's layout is seen as a forward-looking move to seize this track, especially as the ETH Pectra upgrade is about to trigger an institutional staking boom.
Coincidentally, the Ethereum Foundation disclosed the day after the announcement that it would sell 10,000 ETH for research and donations. The transaction was completed in the early morning of September 3, worth about 42.7 million dollars, and the foundation's official Twitter immediately clarified the purpose. Currently, the foundation still holds 231,600 ETH, ranking fourth among public entities. From a professional perspective, Yunfeng Financial's move has optimized its balance sheet. Traditional finance relies on fiat currencies such as the US dollar, which are susceptible to inflation and geopolitical risks; ETH, as "digital oil", offers a 3-5% staking yield, outperforming US Treasury bonds. The group holds MassMutual Insurance, and this move may explore the application of ETH in insurance, such as automated claims via smart contracts, improving efficiency. More broadly, this event marks the acceleration of the decentralized era of blockchain. Yunfeng Financial firmly believes that the Web3 revolution will drive financial innovation and sustainable development.