Wu Cuts Jobs at One Firm, Loses CEO at Other

Billionaire Jihan Wu is making changes to the leadership of his asset manager while also reducing the staff at his digital-currency lending firm by 10%. These are the latest signs of turmoil in the crypto industry.

Damien Loh, the chief executive officer of Matrix Asset Management, has left the company, according to two people who asked not to be identified. I Z Wong, the head of business development and investor relations, has also left, according to one of the people.

When asked about the recent departures of several leaders at Matrix Asset Management, Chief Operating Officer Yu Yee Woon said that the firm is in the process of transitioning to new leadership, pending regulatory review. She did not provide any further details.

Cynthia Wu, chief operating officer for Wu's Matrixport Technologies Ltd., said the company is cutting about one-tenth of its workforce, estimated at about 300 late last year. This comes as a response to the current market conditions.

"Given the significant shift in the regulatory climate following the industry-wide capitulations, we have sharpened our strategic focus towards accredited investors," Wu said in a statement. She added that the reductions will come in marketing, but the company will keep hiring in the areas of compliance, legal and product development.

Both Wong and Loh declined to comment.

Before joining Matrix, Wong spent over 11 years at Dymon Asia Capital, where he held the position of managing director. He joined Matrix in July 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. Loh spent 15 years at JPMorgan in New York, Tokyo and Singapore, and became Matrix's CEO in October 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Cryptocurrency prices have been volatile in recent months, with a number of high-profile projects experiencing so-called "serial meltdowns." These meltdowns have called into question the foundations of the crypto industry, and have left many investors wondering if the sector is sustainable in the long term.

Serial meltdowns are a major problem for the crypto industry because they undermine investor confidence in the sector. If investors believe that crypto assets are prone to sudden and dramatic price declines, they are less likely to invest in the space. This could limit the growth of the industry and make it more difficult for new projects to get off the ground.

The crypto industry needs to find a way to address the problem of serial meltdowns if it wants to attract more mainstream investors and build a sustainable future.

Matrixport, a provider of crypto investment products and financial services, said in November that it handles $5 billion in trades each month and has tens of billions of dollars in assets under management and custody. The firm's investor deck showed that it employed close to 300 people at that time.

At the time, Matrixport was seeking a $1.5 billion valuation, up from $1 billion a year prior. Its backers include DST Global, Tiger Global, IDG Capital and Dragonfly Capital.

Matrixport has stated that it is not at risk of insolvency with respect to Sam Bankman-Fried's collapsed empire. However, approximately 80 of its customers have incurred losses due to exposure to FTX-linked products on the platform.

Jihan Wu, the co-founder of crypto-miner Bitmain Technologies Ltd., spun Matrixport off from Bitmain in 2019. The move came after the world’s largest maker of Bitcoin mining rigs ran into a cash crunch. Wu now serves as chairman of Matrixport and his mining firm Bitdeer Technologies Holding Co.