Crypto Exchange Giant Kraken has dismissed hundreds of employees across all areas of the company for the past several months as the company continues to streamline its activities in front of a potential public list in the United States, according to two people who are familiar with the situation.
It was reported that Kraken has dismissed 400 employees, or approx. 15% of his workforce, at the end of October last year, when Silicon Valley Investor and Kraken board member Arjun Sethi became Co-Ceo with David Ripley, who took the reins when former CEO Jesse Powell Stepped down in 2023.
Since Sethi became co-ceo, “hundreds have gone more,” said a person who is familiar with the situation pointing to a rolling program of layoffs beyond 15% cut late last year.
“They throw themselves aggressively across all features and it’s a constant and running thing. It’s about improving Kraken’s eBita [earnings before interest, tax and amortization]”Said the person.
When the CEO role was shared last year, Sethi and Ripley said in a blog post that there was a need to throw “organizational layers” that were accumulated in the Kraken and make the company “slimmer and faster.”
More cryptic companies are currently getting their houses to launch an initial public offer (IPO) this year or early next year. Kraken has also been pushing for increased revenue by acquiring companies such as Derivatives Platform Ninja Trader, and recently announced the addition of stock trading.
“Kraken’s business thrives. We are launching more new products than ever before, running strong revenue growth and quickly expanding throughout our product portfolio – including through the agreement to acquire Ninjatrader, announced earlier this year,” a Kraken representative told Coindesk.
“At the same time, we are constantly evaluating our workforce to ensure that it is in line with our strategic priorities. We are approaching this with discipline and intention that makes the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles and consolidate teams where there are redundancies while continuing to hire in key areas of the company,” said the Kraken spokesman.
