By George Ward
The Amber Group, one of Asia’s largest crypto trading and lending platforms, is cutting personnel, closing its retail stores, and canceling a sponsorship arrangement with Chelsea FC.
Amber is the latest crypto company struggling to survive the ongoing crypto winter aggravated by the recent FTX crash. After terminating its sponsorship deal with premier league football club Chelsea, Amber Group also downsized its employees for a second time this year.
Its workforce will decrease from 700 to fewer than 400 after the most recent cuts. At the peak of its operation, the trading and financing platform had over 1,100 employees.
Amber Aims To Reduce Costs Further
Amber aims to shift to less expensive offices in Hong Kong to reduce costs further. In addition, the possibility of working from home will be available to those employees in locations with fewer workplaces and whose responsibilities allow it.
These actions are a part of a comprehensive plan to reduce expenses during a challenging period for the cryptocurrency industry. The challenge was further worsened by the failure of the FTX platform and its ensuing fallout.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the company’s decisions represent a vital component of a significant cost-cutting initiative. The source claims that the Singapore-based cryptocurrency startup will further slash employed staff from roughly 700 to less than 400 after cutting it from 1,100 to 700 earlier this year.
Amber’s investors include Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia China. Amber’s actions are merely the most recent illustration of diminished prospects for virtual assets after the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research, its sister company.
According to the source, Amber’s business focus will now be on major institutions, family businesses, and affluent people. Thus, Amber estimates that its number of users would decrease from hundreds of thousands to about 100, the source continued.
Amber Denies Rumor of Dissolution
The crypto platform recently denied online rumors that it could be the business to fall after a slew of crashes in the crypto sector, which caused a $2 trillion drop in the crypto market cap. Instead, a senior official tweeted on Wednesday that things were “business as usual” at the corporation.
According to reports, the yearly sponsorship deal with Chelsea would cost Amber $25 million or £20 million. However, according to an inside source, Amber is reportedly going through the legal process to annul the contract.
Former Morgan Stanley trade analysts created the 2018-born company. The company raised $200 million at a $3 billion valuation in February of that year. Meanwhile, Amber reportedly postponed a $100 million fundraising drive this week.