Table of Contents
Singapore-based Amber Group has acquired crypto options trading platform Sparrow. The acquisition happened on on Nov 29, regulatory records in Singapore showed, The Business Times reported.
In June, Sparrow (through its entity Sparrow Tech Private Limited) obtained a Major Payments Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services within Singapore.
The acquisition comes amid troubled times for Amber Group, with the Temasek-backed company facing allegations of a potential insolvency just days after the death of its 30-year-old co-founder Tiantian Kullander.
The firm recently 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.
Rumours had previously circulated on Twitter suggesting that Amber “lost all of their funds” on FTX and “is closing down.” Last week, eagle-eyed Twitter users spotted the exchange transferring 36 million BUSD to Paxos, 10,422 ETH to a new address, and 500 ETH from Binance to a different address.
Read more: “Time Will Tell”: Amber Tries to Quash Bankruptcy Rumours Following Job Cuts
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.”
The company also claimed their exposure to FTX represents less than 10% of their total trading capital.
Last month, Amber, which has also been backed by Sequoia China and Tiger Global Management, was seeking to raise over US$100 million at a US$3 billion dollar valuation, according to Bloomberg report that cited a person familiar with the matter.
Related: Talking Heads – Crypto’s “Pure Speed” & TradFi’s Hurdles ft. Amber Group’s Annabelle Huang
