Crypto billionaire Wu cuts jobs at one company, loses CEO at another

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(Bloomberg) – Billionaire Jihan Wu is shuffling the leadership of his asset manager while cutting 10% of staff from his digital currency lending company, the latest signs of turmoil in the crypto industry.

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Damien Loh, managing director of Matrix Asset Management, has left the company, according to two people who asked not to be identified discussing personnel issues. IZ Wong, the head of business development and investor relations, also left, according to one of the people.

Asked about the executive departures, Matrix Asset Management COO Yu Yee Woon said the company was transitioning to new management, pending regulatory review, without going into specifics.

Meanwhile, Cynthia Wu, chief operating officer of Wus Matrixport Technologies Ltd., said the company was cutting about a tenth of its workforce, estimated at around 300 at the end of last year.

We have refined our strategic focus on accredited investors given the significant change in the regulatory climate following industry-wide sellouts, Wu said in a statement, adding that the cuts will come from marketing. She said the company will continue to hire in the areas of compliance, legal and product development.

Both Wong and Loh declined to comment.

Prior to Matrix, Wong spent more than 11 years at Dymon Asia Capital, leaving as managing director. He joined Matrix last July, according to his LinkedIn profile. Loh spent 15 years at JPMorgan in New York, Tokyo and Singapore, and joined Matrix as CEO in October 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Matrixport, which offers crypto investment products and financial services including loans, said it handles $5 billion in transactions every month and has tens of billions of dollars in assets under management and custody. , according to an investor filing seen by Bloomberg News in November. The company employed nearly 300 people, according to the bridge.

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At the time, Matrixport was looking for a valuation of $1.5 billion from $1 billion the previous year despite market turmoil exacerbated by the implosion of crypto exchanges FTX, people familiar with the matter said. Its backers include DST Global, Tiger Global, IDG Capital and Dragonfly Capital.

Matrixport said in November there was no risk of insolvency over the collapsed empire of Sam Bankman-Frieds, but that around 80 of its clients had suffered losses due to exposure to products linked to FTX on its platform.

Jihan Wu, the co-founder of crypto miner Bitmain Technologies Ltd., spun off Matrixport from Bitmain in 2019, after the world’s largest maker of bitcoin mining rigs hit a cash crunch. The Chinese crypto mogul is now chairman of Matrixport and its mining company Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co.

(Adds additional remarks from company official to fifth paragraph.)

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