Crypto startup Amber Group raises $530 million AUM as institutions, retail arrive

Capital flows into Amber Group’s investment products continued to surge in 2020, highlighting rapid institutional adoption of digital assets. 

The crypto-finance service provider tells Cointelegraph that its assets under management, or AUM, reached $530 million in 2020, representing a 275% increase from the previous year. Over 500 institutions have contributed to Amber’s suite of investment products, which includes fixed-income, yield enhancement and margin trading.

Although institutions were the main driving force behind Amber’s initial growth, especially among financial managers, family offices and other high net-worth clients, its retail-facing business has also seen significant uptake. The Amber App, which launched in September, has attracted over 35,000 sign-ups at the time of writing.

Michael Wu, Amber’s CEO, tells Cointelegraph that his firm has “already proven we can provide institutional-grade integrated crypto financial services.”

He continued:

“So when we brought the same institutional-grade crypto finance to global individual users through our product offerings, we quickly found the product-market fit and received trust and adoption from our global userbase.”

Wu and five other finance professionals founded Amber Group in 2018 because they recognized that “technology will completely disrupt and revolutionize the finance industry.” The founding team includes professionals formerly of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg.

Amber’s success in attracting both institutional and retail investors seems to indicate that digital assets have been thrust into mainstream consciousness. As Cointelegraph previously reported, a growing proportion of financial advisers are betting on Bitcoin (BTC) as a hedge against inflation.

Goldman Sachs has also commented on the rise of Bitcoin, with analyst Jeff Currie arguing that the digital asset is on the path to maturity.

Crypto markets are collectively valued at over $1 trillion, having reached that key milestone earlier this month for the first time.