DeCurrent, the Japan-Based Crypto Exchange is Looking to Sell to HK’s Amber Group

The holding company behind DeCurrent has reportedly declared intentions to sell the cryptocurrency investors of the company to investment platform Amber Group.

DeCurret is a Japan-based company that was established late in 2021,  December precisely.  It is a platform for exchanging and trading digital currency. The firm provides services in both crypto settlement and exchange via the use of crypto wallets that allow traders make payment and execute trades in real-time. Decurret also allows traders to make payments via mobile digital money using various kinds of digital currencies developed by banks

Their services eliminate the risks of loss and theft that come with cash by safely storing away and managing customers’ cryptocurrencies on the internet. It was launched amidst much fanfare but unfortunately failed to live up to expectations. The sale is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars but an exact amount was not revealed in the report.

Amber Group will become new owners as well as the latest China-based firm to purchase one of the few regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan following the purchase of a majority stake in BitTrade; one in all solely sixteen regulated exchanges by Huobi Global’s Japanese subsidiary back in 2018. DeCurret will henceforth focus on their digital asset business which was a separate entity from the exchange arm.

The sale, if it happens, will be coming almost three years after the operating license was issued to DeCurrent by the Financial Services Agency. The founders of DeCurrent had had enormous expectations believing that they would break through the Japanese virtual assets and create a niche for themselves in the ever-expanding market.

Reports by CoinGeek back in 2019 had explained that DeCurrent had the goal of becoming an important financial servicer for all crypto assets while setting a standard as a platform for highly secure and stress-free digital asset trading. DeCurret obtained legislative authorization from the FSA and proposed that crypto be used as a means of payment for Japan’s public transportation system. 

DeCurrent has since gained the support of Japan’s three largest banks, gaming giants Konami Holdings, SBI group, and financial services consortium. It partnered with Toyota when the automotive giants made the decision to delve into digital currencies and have also been involved in many important decisions in the Japanese local market including the creation of a 70-member consortium dedicated to the launch of a yen-based digital currency.

Unfortunately, reports by Nikkei have declared that the digital asset exchange market has failed to generate the desired fruits for DeCurrent and has fallen short in creating enough revenue after failing to be capable of competing with established companies such as bitFlyer and Coincheck, and profits were reducing.

DeCurret established a brand new business structure at the close of 2021, launching a holding company named DeCurret Holdings and separating its digital foreign exchange and cryptocurrency business into separate entities. Under the new association, the company’s cryptocurrency exchange platform will be signified by DeCurret Inc. while the digital foreign exchange business will be handled by DeCurret DCP.

The Amber Group which is based in Hong Kong, China was founded in the year 2017 and is one of the top global assets platforms that offer a wide range of crypto asset services across financing, investing, spending, and trading. Their growth since inception has been massive.

Amber Group combines best-in-class technology with sophisticated quantitative research to offer a seamless digital asset experience. WhaleFin, their subsidiary digital asset platform, supports individual investors via desktop and mobile apps.

In the first quarter of 2021, Amber Group raised $100 million in Series B funding from China Renaissance Group, Arena Holdings, Tiger Global Management, TruArrow Partners, Sky9 Capital, A&T Capital, DCM Ventures, Gobi Partners, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com Tiger Brokers, and PanteraCapital,

Following the $100 million round of funding, the firm achieved a $1 billion valuation in mid-202. As of then, the company claimed to possess over $1 billion in assets and accounted for as much as 3% of the global spot trading volume. The cryptocurrency monetary company’s agency has since then supported tasks with 1inch Network, the decentralized exchange aggregator. The firm has also launched its personal NFT studio dubbed Creator Finance.