Web3 Competition Brought By HKU Business School and Avenir Group
The Avenir-HKU Web3 Quantitative Trading Challenge 2025 (the Competition) Grand Final was held on 29 November 2025 at the Rayson Huang Theatre at the University of Hong Kong. Spanning six months and built around the core philosophy of a simulated “market environment + institutional-grade quantitative standards,” the global competition attracted 1,171 participants from over 200 leading universities across 15 countries.
Participating student teams developed strategies, implemented comprehensive risk controls, and conducted robustness testing. After two intensive evaluation rounds, 12 outstanding teams from leading universities in different countries advanced to the Global Grand Final, where they presented their strategies and defended them before industry and academic judges. The top-performing teams will be offered priority internships, research collaboration opportunities, and structured career-development opportunities at Avenir Group.
Professor Chen Lin, Chair of Finance and Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, noted in his keynote address that in AI-intensive industries, achieving goals can be difficult without significant resources or investment; however, in the realm of Web3, small teams can still make big things happen, urging young students to continue with their innovative pursuits.
Alex Yang, Executive Vice President and Head of Quantitative Business at Avenir Group, emphasised during the event that the Challenge is not merely a competition but part of the Group’s long-term commitment to building the industry’s talent pipeline. “The long-term competitiveness of our industry depends on the depth of its talent,” he stated. “We aim to open our most critical institutional capabilities to the next generation and enable them to grow in real-market simulated conditions.”
Professor Yulin Fang, Professor of Innovation and Information Management and Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI) at HKU Business School, highlighted that allowing students to validate models and strategies in an environment simulated with real-time market data provides depth of training unattainable in traditional classrooms and effectively expands the boundaries of university education in digital finance.
Held alongside the Grand Final, a roundtable discussion on “How the Convergence of AI and Web3 Will Shape the Future of Crypto” united prominent leaders from academia and industry. This included Professor Ye Luo, Associate Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI) at HKU Business School; Adrian Wang, Chairman and CEO at Metalpha; Tim Xing, COO at Bitfire Technology; Jessica Young, CEO at ME Group; and Chris Yu, Co-founder and CEO at SignalPlus. The discussion covered evolving on-chain market structures, quantitative strategy advancement, the transformative role of AI across the full asset-management lifecycle, and more.
The event was hosted by HKU Business School, Avenir Group, HKU Web3 Research Centre, the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI), The University of Hong Kong-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy, and co-hosted by Sinohope Bitfire and ME Group.
Photos
Professor Chen Lin, Chair of Finance and Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, giving an opening speech.
Alex Yang, Executive Vice President and Head of Quantitative Business at Avenir Group, giving a welcome speech.
Professor Yulin Fang, Professor of Innovation and Information Management and Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI) at HKU Business School, giving a closing speech.
(From Left) Jessica Young, CEO at ME Group; Tim Xing, COO at Bitfire Technology; Professor Ye Luo, Associate Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI) at HKU Business School; Adrian Wang, Chairman and CEO at Metalpha; and Chris Yu, Co-founder and CEO at SignalPlus, having a panel discussion.
The winning team, comprising of one student from HKU and one student from HKUST with Alex Yang, Executive Vice President and Head of Quantitative Business at Avenir Group (left) and Professor Yulin Fang, Professor of Innovation and Information Management and Director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Innovation (IDEI) at HKU Business School (right).
The Global Grand Final of the Avenir-HKU Web3 Quantitative Trading Challenge 2025 group photo.
