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Amber Group is trying its best to dispel rumors that it could be facing bankruptcy after announcing a slew of layoffs at the company.
The Temasek-backed crypto firm has laid off hundreds of employees, with the headcount at some of its teams being cut by 50%. Amber had previously cut 30–40% of its overall headcount in September.
News of Amber’s job cuts comes just one week after its founder Tiantian Kullander unexpectedly passed away at the untimely age of 30. The announcement also coincides with ByBit cutting 30% of its staff.
Crypto Twitter has come out in full force alleging that Amber is now facing bankruptcy. According to Lookonchain, Amber transferred 36 million BUSD to Paxos in the last seven days, 10,422 ETH to a new address and 500 ETH from Binance to a different address.
1/ @ambergroup_io appears to be on the verge of bankruptcy.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 6, 2022
We analyzed 6 Ethereum wallets of Amber and found:
– $9.46M assets in total.
– Amber transferred ~36M $BUSD to Paxos and 10,422 $ETH ($13.12M) to a new address.
– Amber traded 4 hours ago.
👇https://t.co/vbHIlEvdJr
It would appear Amber Group are now at the stage where they’re scrambling for spare change underneath the cushions. Remember when FTX started doing this? Time of death rapidly approaching https://t.co/6V13S2HZPl
— BoJack (@BTC_BoJack) December 6, 2022
Chinese Twitter account TechFlow alleges that over 100 former Amber employees were laid off without compensation, with the company’s top management disappearing.
Amber 逾百名前员工集体维权：被裁拿不到赔偿金，公司高层“消失”
— 深潮TechFlow（420,69） (@TechFlowPost) December 6, 2022
多名在11月被裁的 Amber 前员工向深潮 TechFlow 爆料以及抱怨，他们并未如合同约定的在12月初收到应得的裁员补偿款。
更让他们忧心的是，他们已经无法联系到相关的 Amber 高层人员，中国境内的办公室也在12月5日全部撤离清空。🧵🧵🧵
Blockhead reached out to Amber Group for a comment regarding the job cuts and the current state of their business. In response, Blockhead was recommended to “refer to the statement that posted on Twitter.”
In a Twitter thread, the firm claimed “Amber Group and @WhaleFinApp are business as usual.” WhaleFin is Amber Group’s flagship digital asset platform.
Watch: Talking Heads – Crypto’s “Pure Speed” & TradFi’s Hurdles ft. Amber Group’s Annabelle Huang
“Weathering through market cycles, we have to constantly adjust and pivot our business strategies, product offerings, and, as a result, internal teams and functions,” Amber stated.
Amber concluded, “It’s still early days for crypto. Time will tell.”
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.
— Amber Group (@ambergroup_io) December 6, 2022
Annabelle Huang, managing partner at Amber Group, was asked on Twitter whether client funds are safe. In response, Huang simply said, “it is. We continue to operate business as usual. If you have any concerns, withdrawals are open as usual.”
Read more: Crypto Job Searches Surge as Singapore Has Most Positions Per Million
It is. We continue to operate business as usual. If you have any concerns, withdrawals are open as usual.
— Annabelle Huang (@_annabellehuang) December 6, 2022
Rumours had previously circulated on Twitter suggesting that Amber “lost all of their funds” on FTX and “is closing down.” At the time, Amber emphasised that it “has no exposure to Alameda or $FTT. But similar to most trading firms, we have been an active trading participant on FTX. While we have significantly reduced our exposure over the course of the week, we still have withdrawals that have yet to be processed.”
Amber claimed their exposure to FTX represents less than 10% of their total trading capital.
Read more: BlockFi Halts Withdrawals in FTX Wake But Who Else Has Exposure?
Amber’s response, which does not address the alleged transactions flowing out of the firm, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence or reassurance to its client base. But as Amber said, “time will tell”….
