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Jesse Powell, who leads the crypto exchange Kraken, has challenged the use of preferred pronouns, debated who can use racial slurs and called American women “brainwashed.”
Jesse Powell, a founder and the chief executive of Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, recently asked his employees, “If you can identify as a sex, can you identify as a race or ethnicity?”
He also questioned their use of preferred pronouns and led a discussion about “who can refer to another person as the N word.”
And he told workers that questions about women’s intelligence and risk appetite compared with men’s were “not as settled as one might have initially thought.”
In the process, Mr. Powell, a 41-year-old Bitcoin pioneer, ignited a culture war among his more than 3,000 workers, according to interviews with five Kraken employees, as well as internal documents, videos and chat logs reviewed by The New York Times. Some workers have openly challenged the chief executive for what they see as his “hurtful” comments. Others have accused him of fostering a hateful workplace and damaging their mental health. Dozens are considering quitting, said the employees, who did not want to speak publicly for fear of retaliation.
Corporate culture wars have abounded during the coronavirus pandemic as remote work, inequity and diversity have become central issues at workplaces. At Meta, which owns Facebook, restive employees have agitated over racial justice. At Netflix, employees protested the company’s support for the comedian Dave Chappelle after he aired a special that was criticized as transphobic.
But rarely has such angst been actively stoked by the top boss. And even in the male-dominated cryptocurrency industry, which is known for a libertarian philosophy that promotes freewheeling speech, Mr. Powell has taken that ethos to an extreme.
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Inside a Corporate Culture War Stoked by a Crypto C.E.O. Jesse Powell, who leads the crypto exchange Kraken
Kraken
Kraken (legally named Payward, Inc.) is a United States–based cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2011. It was one of the first bitcoin exchanges to be listed on Bloomberg Terminal and was valued at US$3 billion in Jan 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Kraken_(company)
While Jesse Powell had his share of controversies and his adamant personality may not make him the mainstream media darling, he nevertheless remains one of the most prominent thought leaders of the crypto space. That being said, his estimated net worth of $500 million is a testament to his success in the industry.
Jesse Powell—the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Kraken—had his home searched by the FBI earlier this year as part of a hacking and cyberstalking investigation involving a nonprofit, according to the New York Times, making him the latest high-profile cryptocurrency figure to face federal scrutiny.
The SEC alleged Kraken operated as an unregistered broker, dealer, exchange, and clearing agency, in violation of the Securities Exchange Act. The SEC's lawsuit aims to prohibit Kraken from continuing these activities and seeks an unspecific amount of civil monetary penalties.
Crypto exchange Kraken is restructuring its leadership team. CEO Jesse Powell will no longer lead the company he founded in 2011. Dave Ripley, chief operating officer at the exchange for the last six years, will succeed Powell once the search for his own replacement as COO has been completed.
Kraken was established in 2011 and formally launched trading operations in 2013, under the ownership of Payward Inc. 34 The current CEO is David Ripley, who replaced co-founder Jesse Powell in 2022.
In this article, we will dive into who owns the Seattle Kraken, the franchise's ownership group, and their vision for the team. The Seattle Kraken ownership is a partnership led by David Bonderman and Samantha Holloway.
Coinbase vs Kraken cryptocurrency exchange overall score comparison reveals that Coinbase has a higher overall score of 9.1, while Kraken gathered an overall score of 8.3. If we look at the ease of use, it's clear that in this Coinbase vs Kraken comparison, Coinbase has better & smoother user experience than Kraken.
Powell has denied that these controversies spurred his decision to step down as CEO, telling Bloomberg that he informed Kraken's board of his impending departure over a year ago. Instead, he chalked up the decision to something much more banal – boredom.
(collectively, Kraken) for failing “to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.” To settle the SEC's charges, Kraken agreed to immediately cease offering or selling securities through crypto asset staking services or staking programs and pay $30 million in disgorgement, ...
Key Takeaways. The U.S. SEC has charged Kraken with operating an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency. This lawsuit against Kraken is similar to charges filed by the SEC against crypto exchanges Binance, Bittrex and Coinbase earlier in the year.
Kraken was also accused of having deficient internal controls and inadequate record keeping, reflected in part in its commingling customer money with its own and paying operating costs directly from customer accounts.
Your Kraken account should be safe from cybercriminals looking to drain your balances if you follow good online security practices. Once an account is funded, it's extremely wise to add two-factor authentication. You can create different two-factor codes for sign-in, account withdrawals, and trades.
In an interview with Fortune, Powell said his decision to step back from the CEO role has nothing to do with media outcry—including a recent unflattering New York Times feature—but instead because he has grown tired of long hours and day-to-day management tasks.
Finally, the SEC claims that crypto assets traded on Kraken's platform were investment contracts and thus securities. By facilitating unregistered broker-dealer activities regarding these securities, Kraken violated U.S. securities laws.
Our main service matches orders from clients who want to buy cryptocurrencies with orders from clients who want to sell cryptocurrencies (or vice versa). Trading fees are charged when your order is executed (matched with another client's order).
Marcus reports to Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori. “I'm proud to be chosen to represent Kraken in our engagements with regulators across the world and help grow the company in this next phase of Kraken's journey,” said Marcus Hughes.
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