Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that co-founder Jesse Powell is resigning as CEO.
Powell co-founded the firm with Thanh Luu in 2011 and is regarded as a pioneer in the industry. According to this release, COO Dave Ripley will follow Powell, who will assume the role of board chairman. However, Ripley will take his new position as CEO after the exchange has found a new COO.
Powell said that he looks forward to devoting more time to “the company’s products, user experience, and industry advocacy on a bigger scale.”
Powell was cited by Bloomberg as stating, “As the firm has grown, it has just become more exhausting and less enjoyable for me.” Bloomberg reports that Powell told the corporation of his intentions more than a year ago.
The now-former CEO said in the news statement that Ripley’s “proven leadership and expertise” give him confidence that the new CEO is “the appropriate successor and the greatest individual to lead Kraken into its next period of development.”
Ripley has been Kraken’s COO for six years, having joined the exchange via its purchase of the crypto wallet financing provider Glidera, where he was co-founder and CEO. Kraken credited him with developing the exchange from 50 to more than 3,000 employees and notes that “under [his] leadership,” Kraken executed more than sixteen acquisitions and gained “considerable” worldwide regulatory approvals and collaborations.
Meanwhile, news sources like as The New York Times and Bloomberg have pushed Powell’s spat with Kraken’s workers back into the spotlight, notably the debate that developed this year over his gender- and race-related remarks.
The corporation also uploaded a piece titled “Kraken Culture,” and after what Powell believed to be an unsuccessful argument, he tweeted that Kraken is “returning to dictatorship.” Several workers quit the company at the time.
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