The CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, is retiring. In the upcoming months, David Ripley, who is currently Kraken’s chief operating officer, will become its CEO.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Powell will continue to hold the position of chairman of the board at the cryptocurrency exchange he co-founded in 2011. Powell said
“For me, this is about spending more time on stuff which I’m good at and enjoy doing like working on products and industry advocacy stuff,”
One of the first cryptocurrency exchanges was Kraken, which was established back in 2011. Currently, it employs about 3,300 people globally. Powell predicted that his exchange might become public in 2022 last year.
According to the report, Kraken is one of the few cryptocurrency businesses that continued hiring despite the sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies, even though such a plan has probably been shelved.
Powell oversaw the expansion of Kraken during his 11 years as CEO, making it one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world by market share.
Kraken saw over $160 billion in trading volume in just the first and second quarters of 2021, despite being overshadowed by Binance and Coinbase.
Mr. Powell has criticized governmental regulation of cryptocurrencies loudly. Kraken decided to cease operations in New York in 2015 rather than abide by rules set forth by the New York Department of Financial Services.
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