Singapore-based Amber Group, one of Asia's largest crypto exchanges, cuts 40%+ of its staff, scraps retail operations, and terminates its Chelsea FC sponsorship
Amber Group, one of Asia's leading crypto trading and lending platforms, is cutting jobs, scrapping retail operations and terminating …
BloombergHannah Miller
Context & Ripple Effects
Amber had built its business around institutional crypto services before expanding its ambitions, raising a $28M institutional-services round in 2020 and then a $200M extension at a $3B valuation in February 2022. The retail shutdown and sponsorship exit mark a sharp contraction from that growth posture.
The retrenchment was followed by a $300M Series C at a lower valuation, while Crypto.com also announced workforce reductions in related coverage. Together, those developments place Amber's cuts within a broader reset in crypto-platform spending and valuations.
First-order effects
More than 40% of Amber Group's staff are affected, while its retail customers lose access to the firm's retail operation.
Chelsea FC loses Amber Group as a sponsor, and Amber immediately removes a major marketing commitment alongside its retail business.
Second-order effects
Amber's remaining business is more concentrated on the institutional trading, market-making, and lending activities described in earlier coverage, rather than retail acquisition and sports-led brand promotion.
The lower-valuation financing and Crypto.com's later layoffs strengthen pressure on crypto platforms to align staffing and marketing costs with a more constrained funding environment.
Third-order effects
If peers continue pairing layoffs with retail and geographic pullbacks, crypto exchanges may become more concentrated around firms able to sustain institutional operations rather than broad consumer-growth strategies.
Sports sponsorships and other high-visibility acquisition spending become more vulnerable to rapid cancellation when crypto platforms prioritize liquidity and core operations.
The trend: Crypto platforms are moving from valuation-led expansion toward narrower operating models centered on core businesses and lower fixed spending.
To update our clients and relevant stakeholders, we can confirm Amber Group and @WhaleFinApp are business as usual. Weathering through market cycles, we have to constantly adjust and pivot our business strategies, product offerings, and, as a result, internal teams and functions.
There is circumstantial evidence that $5B AUM @ambergroup_io is insolvent, in distress, or rugging. Unconfirmed 🇨🇳Chinese social media reports from @TechFlowPost support the on chain evidence of them dumping assets due to distress: https://twitter.com/... 🧵👇 https://twitter.com/.…
Amber Group has raised just half of a planned $100mn funding round and halted expansion plans as it fights concerns that it will be pulled into the turmoil sparked by FTX's collapse https://www.ft.com/...
Previously I had noted that Amber Group was suspiciously TWAPing large amounts of $stETH from @CurveFinance's LP. https://twitter.com/... Amber Group Wallet 0x54dda22ae140edb605c73073eabb6f4aea2fc 237 shows that they owe $51m in debt to @AaveAave with a health score of 1.34. http…
We took a peek into Chinese interwebs today: looks like crypto trading firm Amber Group (@ambergroup_io) is in scalding hot water in China. After the death of its founder TianTian Kullander a week ago, its top management “disappeared”. (1/5) 🧵 https://twitter.com/...
🚨Temasek-backed Amber Group has raised just half of a planned $100m funding round & 🛑halted expansion plans as it fights concerns swirling post FTX. It's also making lay offs, & its China staff are threatening legal action over missed payments https://www.ft.com/... @mjruehl
@WhaleFinApp 2) As we navigate through this challenging market environment, we will continue to focus on our core businesses and provide the best-in-class products and services to our core client base.
Wonder how Temasek, Singapore soverign wealth fund, can invest in the business which their government, regulator, has been skeptical and tough about. Big hands if it's coordinated diversification between regulator and its sovereign wealth fund. https://twitter.com/...
The Singapore-based crypto firm, whose backers include Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia China, will slash its workforce to less than 400 from about 700 currently, the person said, adding staff numbers earlier peaked at some 1,100. https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @markets