Qian Fenglei Takes the Helm at WellCell Group, Reshaping the Business Landscape

HONG KONG, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Qian Fenglei, the chairman of Hang Feng Limited, has increased his stake in WellCell Group (02477.HK) twice this year. Since then, the company's trading activity has surged, prompting the market to re-evaluate this company focused on the TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecommunications) sector. WellCell Group recently held its annual general meeting of shareholders and announced in a company statement on May 26, 2025, that the board of directors unanimously approved Qian Fenglei as the chairman of the group.

Laying Out New Tracks to Open a New Chapter in Business

Graduated from the Advanced Institute of Finance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Qian Fenglei is known as a "strategic capital player." Although he maintains a low profile, his sharp vision and decisive actions have always been on point. At the end of 2024, he officially entered the Web3 arena, creating the FO brand. Starting from Hong Kong, he plans to gradually expand to the Asia-Pacific region and eventually layout globally, aiming to connect one billion users and provide a "super entrance" that seamlessly integrates the blockchain world with the real world. This project, which Qian refers to as "the last job of his life," also has the support of heavyweight backers. According to public information, Hang Feng Limited 's initial round of financing raised $100 million, with Qian Fenglei personally investing $50 million, and investors including leading entrepreneurs from various fields, providing substantial resources for the project.

On May 28, WellCell Group announced another statement, declaring that to align with global financial technology trends, diversify its business portfolio, and consider the welfare of all shareholders, investors, and the company, it is actively exploring new business segments. These include payment services (including global payment services utilizing blockchain technology) and financial technology services. Although the announcement only mentioned global payment services using blockchain technology, those who closely follow Hang Feng Limited 's moves know that this global payment service might be part of the "FO-X" strategy, which is crucial for restructuring the interaction between traditional finance and capital markets, forming a closed-loop ecosystem encompassing social interaction, payment, asset management, and digital ecology.

The core purpose of WellCell Group 's strategic adjustment is to break free from the bottleneck of traditional TMT industry growth slowdown and expand into high-growth potential areas such as financial technology and Web3. According to Deloitte's 2024 TMT forecast report, the revenue growth rates of the telecommunications and traditional media sectors are below 3%, far lower than emerging fields such as AI, Web3, and digital assets, which exceed 20% annual growth rate. Between 2023 and 2024, Hong Kong's TMT stocks performed weakly overall, with the Hang Seng Technology Index, dominated by technology companies, falling more than 40% from its peak in 2021. Funds have clearly shifted towards high-growth, high-elasticity sectors such as new energy, AI, Web3, and financial technology. This strategic transformation not only reshapes WellCell Group 's business landscape but also reflects Qian Fenglei's determination to build the "next-generation internet infrastructure."

Through two consecutive shareholding increases in a short period, becoming WellCell Group 's largest shareholder, and then taking the position of chairman, each step has clear objectives and a tight rhythm, marking the official implementation of Qian Fenglei's "overtaking on a new track" strategy—rapidly connecting capital and technology through the listed company platform and restructuring traditional financial interaction models. This case may become a benchmark for the integration of Web3.0 and traditional economy in the global capital market. Thus, Qian Fenglei's long-fermented "FO-X" strategy officially enters the implementation phase.

Welcoming the Evolution of the Global Capital Market

As Qian Fenglei's future flagship project, the "FO" strategic layout aims to reconstruct the operation mode of traditional capital and financial systems through technology-driven innovation. This ecosystem revolves around the core concept of Web3, intending to build a truly "decentralized" and interconnected digital economy. This layout not only focuses on technological innovation but also emphasizes application implementation and user participation, gradually laying out a high-speed channel from Web2 to Web3, from basic tools to terminal scenarios.

In the entire "FO-X" ecosystem, FoChat is seen as the entrance to the Web3 world. This decentralized social transaction application combines familiar scenarios such as instant messaging, short videos, and live interaction, allowing users to seamlessly access blockchain applications during natural communication. FoChat innovatively proposes a "social as transaction" model, where users can directly engage in encrypted asset tipping, digital goods trading, and even participate in NFT interactions and decentralized financial products (DeFi) during chats or live interactions. Through a simplified interaction interface, it significantly lowers the barrier for ordinary users to enter Web3.

As the payment engine within the ecosystem, Fopay is reshaping the underlying logic of cross-border payments; this system relies on blockchain technology to achieve year-round, 24/7 global capital clearing, not only significantly shortening transaction times but also effectively reducing cross-border costs. Fopay's vision is to become the "Alipay of the encryption era," supporting instant settlement of various mainstream currencies and encrypted assets, widely covering applications in daily consumption, digital content tipping, and international remittances.

Policy Support Brings Mutual Benefits

It is worth mentioning that the governments of mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have clearly encouraged and actively promoted the development of the digital economy in recent years. This trend is reflected not only in policy but also throughout aspects such as regulation, infrastructure construction, funding support, and talent cultivation. The "14th Five-Year Plan" (2021-2025) explicitly proposes to "accelerate digital development and build a digital China," listing the digital economy as a core strategic industry, encouraging the integrated development of big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.

As the Web3 wave gradually heats up, Hong Kong, with its forward-looking policies and open attitude, is rapidly rising as a key node for global virtual assets and innovative finance. From the virtual asset policy declaration in 2022, to the implementation of the virtual asset trading platform licensing system starting June 2023, to the successful passage of the "Stablecoin Ordinance Draft" by the Legislative Council on May 21 this year, Qian Fenglei is taking advantage of this momentum to promote the implementation of the "FO-X" strategy starting from Hong Kong, which can be described as "taking advantage of the situation and rising with the momentum."

The active support at the policy level paves the way for the legalization and scaling of the "FO-X" ecosystem. This transformation initiated in Hong Kong may become an important microcosm of the global capital market evolution over the next decade.

source: FOCHAT GLOBAL LIMITED