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In summary
- US Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken laid off some of its staff, becoming the third major company in the space to do so this week, despite Bitcoin’s rise.
- Kraken also announced that Arjun Sethi has joined as co-CEO alongside David Ripley, and framed the layoffs as a change of direction for the firm.
- Kraken did not provide details on the number of staff laid off, but New York Times reporter Mike Issac said Kraken had laid off 15% of its staff.
US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken laid off some of its staff, becoming the third major company in the space to do so this week, despite the rise of Bitcoin, which nearly hit an all-time high on Tuesday.
Kraken also announced that Arjun Sethi has joined as co-CEO alongside David Ripley. Sethi is co-founder and president of Tribe Capital, and was previously part of the executive team at web pioneer Yahoo. Along with the appointment, Kraken framed the layoffs as a change of direction for the cryptocurrency firm.
“To continue blazing our path forward and put Kraken in position to become the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform, we need to be more agile and faster,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Kraken did not elaborate on the number of staff laid off, and declined to comment further to Decrypt beyond pointing to its published statement. New York Times technology reporter Mike Issac said on Twitter (aka X) that Kraken had laid off 15% of its staff, citing two people at the company.
Ethereum software giant Consensys announced on Tuesday that it had laid off 20% of its global workforce, or 163 employees. Later that day, the CEO of decentralized exchange dYdX, Antonio Juliano, said the company had laid off 35% of its staff, but did not specify how many people were affected by the move.
With a rising Bitcoin price and an optimistic mood across the industry, what is driving the cost cuts? When cryptocurrency prices are rising, companies in the sector tend to be more prosperous due to higher profits, with layoffs more likely during prolonged bear markets.
Consensys founder Joseph Lubin said in a statement Tuesday that part of the reason for the layoffs was “continued regulatory uncertainty” and “many millions of dollars” spent as a result of legal cases. The company has faced a series of legal battles with Wall Street’s largest regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Kraken is another cryptocurrency company that has run afoul of the watchdog: Last year, the company agreed to pay a $30 million fine to the SEC and stop its cryptocurrency staking service for customers in the US, following a lawsuit. of the regulator.
Despite the cuts, the company is expanding with new products. Last week, Kraken announced a new Ethereum layer 2, called Ink.
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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