- Japanese tech giant Sony Group acquired crypto exchange Amber Japan.
- Amber Group was subject to a ‘debt-to-equity transaction’ with Fenbushi post-FTX collapse.
Sony Group, the hundred billion-dollar Japanese tech giant, marks its entry into the crypto exchange sector by acquiring Amber Japan. The crypto trading service operated by Amber Japan, Whale Fin, was rebranded as S.BLOX Co., Ltd. It has plans to expand its crypto-related services in collaboration with Sony.
Amber Japan is a rebranding of the Japanese crypto exchange DeCurret, which Singapore-based Amber Group acquired in 2022. Meanwhile, Whale Fin was acquired by Quetta Web Co., Ltd., a Sony Group subsidiary, in August 2023. Also, it aims to provide cryptocurrency trading services.
As per sources, the company representative, Yijin Li, has resigned. Jun Watanabe, chairman of Sony Network Communications Inc., will serve as the representative after the acquisition.
Reportedly, the Amber Group faced financial troubles with the collapse of FTX, calling into question its full debt-to-equity deal with Fenbushi, a Shanghai-based blockchain venture capital firm. Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Pantera, Temasek, Tiger, and others were investors in the Singaporean market maker. In December 2022, Amber Group raised a $300 million Series C round, which Fenbushi Capital led.
Furthermore, the tech giant has been finding ways to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain in gaming for the past few years. On the other hand, In September last year, Sony Group subsidiary Sony Network Communications established a new company with Startale Labs to develop blockchain jointly.
Notably, in March 2023, Sony’s NFT patent — “NFT framework for transferring and using digital assets between game platforms” — was accepted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) amid the increased scrutiny around NFTs.
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