
Jesse Powell, CEO of Crypto Exchange Kraken, to Step Down
Jesse Powell will step down from his role as CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, according to the Wall Street Journal. David Ripley, Kraken’s COO, will take over as CEO in the coming months.
Powell plans to remain on the board of Kraken as chairman and will continue working on product development and crypto industry advocacy.
The outspoken Powell, an early advocate of bitcoin, founded Kraken in 2011 and has been at the center of several company-related controversies this year.
The news comes as the crypto industry is in a bear market that has seen more than $2 trillion wiped from its market capitalization and seen the price of bitcoin fall from close to $70,000 to below $20,000.
Kraken is currently the fourth largest crypto exchange measured by spot-trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap.
Though it is incorporated in Delaware, the company’s largest markets are in Europe. It was most recently valued at $10.8 billion, according to PitchBook, and has about 3,200 employees.
