Huobi founder Leon Li sells London mansion for £190 million

Leon Li, founder of crypto exchange Huobi, has sold a mansion in London’s Regent’s Park for around £190 million. Li bought the property in 2024 for £139 million, making him around £51 million in profit in less than two years. His ownership was not made public for almost two years, despite UK transparency laws intended to prevent anonymous property ownership.

In brief:

• Leon Li sold the London mansion The Holme for £190 million, after buying it for £139 million in 2024.
• His ownership remained hidden because the property was held through a UK subsidiary of asset manager Zedra.
• The buyer is Abbas Sajwani, son of Dubai property developer Hussain Sajwani.

Ownership hidden for almost two years

The mansion is known as The Holme and is one of the most expensive residential transactions London has ever seen. The buyer is Abbas Sajwani, son of Emirati property developer Hussain Sajwani, as reported by the Financial Times.

It was not disclosed for a long time that Li was the owner. The United Kingdom has a Register of Overseas Entities, which requires owners of property held through offshore structures to register publicly with Companies House. However, The Holme was not held by an offshore entity, but by a UK subsidiary of Zedra, a company that manages trusts for various clients. As a result, the structure fell outside the transparency requirement.

Li exited Huobi in 2022

Li founded Huobi in China in 2013, after previously working as a programmer at Oracle. In 2022, he sold his stake in the exchange, shortly after Beijing took tougher action against the country’s crypto sector.

Huobi became embroiled in controversy this year when the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed sanctions on the exchange over alleged support for the Russian financial sector after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Li’s family office declined to respond to questions about the property transaction.