Crypto lender Amber Group scraps bonuses, cuts jobs

Amber Group, one of Asia's biggest trading and lending platforms for digital currencies, has canceled this year's staff bonuses as the one-time industry darling grapples with the crypto downturn.

The Singapore-based outfit told employees this week that it is scrapping performance-based bonuses for 2022 due to slower business growth and market uncertainties, in an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg News.

Since June, Amber has kicked off a series of cost-cutting measures including redundancies and wage reductions. Some of its management team have voluntarily agreed to give up all or part of their salaries until the market shows clear signs of recovery.


Amber Chief Executive Officer Michael Wu confirmed the cancellation of bonuses and management salary reductions in an interview with Bloomberg, adding that the firm will continue to reduce costs.

The company, whose backers include Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia China, plans to slash its workforce to fewer than 400 from a peak of some 1,100 earlier this year, Bloomberg reported last week. It has paused a $100 million funding round and is terminating a sponsorship contract with Chelsea FC, which was part of a sports-deal frenzy among crypto high-flyers in recent years.