The contagion from FTX’s collapse may still be spreading.
Lookonchain, an on-chain analyst, claims that Amber Group, a crypto trading and asset management firm, appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy.
Lookonchain said six wallets allegedly owned by Amber have only $9.46M in assets between them — Amber claims on its website to have over $5B “on its platform” and to be responsible for $1T of trading volume.
Jason Choi, founder of Tangent, an angel investing collective, shared two additional wallets, bringing the value of Amber’s on-chain assets up to $11.1M.
Annabelle Huang, managing partner at Amber, denied the allegations. The company did not respond to an email requesting clarity on its financial position but put out a statement echoing Huang’s.
Mass Layoffs
The Singapore-based firm laid off hundreds of employees in December after letting 30% to 40% of its staff go in September, according to Colin Wu, a reporter focused on crypto developments in Asia.
FTX’s spectacular implosion has much of the crypto community on edge — a string of bankruptcies and allegations that trading firms like Orthogonal Trading are essentially insolvent have frequently sent shockwaves through crypto since the Sam Bankman-Fried-led exchange fell apart.
Now, large players like Amber have become part of the rumor mill as the crypto community looks to sniff out which companies may have been wiped out by the fallout from FTX’s bankruptcy.
Amber was founded in 2018 and offers a broad range of services, including market making and collateralized lending — it also participates in a slew of DeFi protocols, according to the company’s website.
Amber raised $200M in March in a funding round that valued the company at $3B. Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund with $300B in assets, led the round.
The firm has had a tumultuous few weeks — its co-founder Tiantian Kullander passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on Nov. 23.
Temasek Holdings-funded crypto startup Amber Group 'adjusting' headcount but 'not at risk of insolvency'
SINGAPORE — Amber Group, a cryptocurrency startup backed by state investment firm Temasek Holdings, is scaling back its growth plans and "adjusting" its headcount, but it is not at risk of insolvency, the company said on Friday (Dec 9).
Its statement, made in response to TODAY's queries, came after media outlets including The Financial Times reported that Amber Group is now "thinly staffed" and some employees are facing delayed salary payments as the company slashes headcount.
WHY IT MATTERS
• News of Amber Group’s reported layoffs is coming hot on the heels of cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s demise and the greater calls to regulate such exchanges and platforms more
• Even before FTX collapsed, there were a series of other crypto firms abruptly shutting down and burning retail investors, for example, Terra, Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital and Celsius Network
• In the case of FTX, Temasek Holdings had a 1 per cent stake in it
• After the collapse, Temasek Holdings said that it will write down its full investment of US$275 million (around S$377 million) in FTX
• This became a subject of parliamentary debate and Temasek Holdings is conducting an internal review of the investment and losses in FTX
WHAT IS THIS AMBER GROUP?
• Amber Group is not to be confused with the group that encompasses Amber Compounding Pharmacy and Amber Laboratories, which were in the news earlier this week
• Member of Parliament and lawyer Christopher de Souza was representing the latter pharmaceutical and retail skincare firms in a High Court suit and a disciplinary tribunal found that he had assisted his clients in suppressing evidence
• The Amber Group backed by Temasek Holdings is a financial technology startup founded in Hong Kong in 2017 and headquartered in Singapore, with operations across 12 cities
• It was billed as a liquidity provider offering clients services that include algorithmic execution and advisory services
• It also has a consumer mobile application called WhaleFin for people to buy and trade cryptocurrency
• In February this year, Amber Group reported that its cumulative transaction volume at the time had surpassed US$1 trillion and its assets under management had grown to more than US$5 billion since 2017
• Recently, the company was in the news after the unexpected death of its 30-year-old co-founder Tiantian Kullander, which happened around three weeks after FTX’s fall
WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW
• The Financial Times quoted an anonymous employee as saying that 60 staff members lost their jobs across the company’s operations in China’s cities of Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai
• The employee said that the layoffs have been happening since June this year, with staff members who are no longer with the company still waiting for severance payment, “which was promised to them by Dec 5”
• In response to TODAY on Temasek Holding’s plans regarding Amber Group, the investment firm referred to its February statement announcing its investment in Amber Group and its answers last month regarding questions about FTX, but did not give further comment
WHAT AMBER GROUP SAYS
• Amber Group told TODAY that it makes changes to its headcount based on business needs and other operational considerations such as cost and efficiency
• It said that it “cannot comment on specific layoff plans”
• “We make adjustments dynamically and analyse our internal structureand team compositions on a quarterly basis. For now, we can confirm that we are making ongoing headcount and team composition adjustments given our business strategy adjustments,” it added
• It also said that it will continue to service its global high-net-worth and institutional clients
• The company described Asia as its “core market” where it has the most resources, adding that its Hong Kong and Singapore offices are open and operate as usual
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/temasek-holdings-funded-crypto-startup-amber-group-headcount-risk-insolvency-2068196