A group of former Morgan Stanley traders has turned their cryptocurrency venture into a unicorn by bringing Wall Street strategies to the brave new world.
Amber Group, founded in 2018, raised $100 million from investors, including DCM Ventures and Tiger Global Management, ramping up its valuation tenfold to $1 billion in just 18 months.
The Series B fundraising also includes China Renaissance Group, Tiger Brokers, Gobi Partners and existing backers such as Coinbase Global and Pantera Capital, Hong Kong-based Amber said.
The start-up is one of a crop of fledging companies developing financial services – from over-the-counter trading to derivatives and structured products – for professional cryptocurrency traders and investors.
Last month, Chinese cryptocurrency lender Babel Finance raised $40m with backing from Sequoia Capital China and Tiger Global, while Matrixport, started by Bitmain’s influential founder Jihan Wu, is also seeking a new capital injection.
Amber trades digital coins like Bitcoin and Ether using both client money and its own capital. The start-up manages about $1.5bn of trading capital and expects revenue to surge tenfold to $500m this year.
Five of Amber’s founders – Michael Wu, Tiantian Kullander, Wayne Huo, Tony He and Luke Li – worked together on Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income trading floor in Hong Kong. The sixth, Thomas Zhu, was a Bloomberg LP developer working to explore machine learning for trading.
In 2015, the group – back then all in their 20s – kicked off a side project to deploy algorithmic trading in Chinese stocks and index futures and later went full-time into cryptocurrency to capture arbitrage opportunities. They’ve since expanded Amber into a team of 300 people, with hires from places like Tencent Holdings and Goldman Sachs Group.
“Both trading and financial services should be more tech driven and more automated,” Mr Wu, Amber’s chief executive, said. “The strategy we do with Amber is always quantitative.”
Both trading and financial services should be more tech driven and more automated
Amber has been profitable since its first day in cryptocurrency and now has a net margin of more than 60 per cent, chief financial officer Mr Kullander said.
That’s largely thanks to its market neutral strategy, which is to trade on volatility instead of Bitcoin’s ups or downs, he said. The firm generated about $60m in revenue for the March quarter – and about the same amount for April alone, as more users came on board.
Bitcoin has shed more than 40 per cent in value since it hit a record $64,870 in April, after Chinese officials started a renewed crackdown on trading and mining activities of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
At the end of 2019, the start-up raised $28m from cryptocurrency investors including Dragonfly Capital and exchange giant Coinbase at a $100m valuation. The founders say they still hold a roughly 60 per cent stake in the company after the latest round.
“Even if there’s a downturn in crypto, they are in it for the long run,” Kyle Lui, a partner with DCM ventures, which started its relationship with the firm as a client, said.
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Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
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Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
