- Kraken has cut its global workforce by 30%, or around 1,100 employees.
- Outgoing Kraken founder and CEO Jesse Powell said the exchange had no other option than to bring high costs in line with dwindling demand.
- Powell said he remains optimistic about the future of Kraken and the crypto industry in general.
One of the largest centralized crypto exchanges, Kraken, has cut 30% – or around 1,100 employees – of its global workforce amid the deepening crypto bear market.
Outgoing Kraken founder and CEO Jesse Powell said in a blog post published on Wednesday that over the last few years the company grew three-fold to be able to serve a rapidly growing customer base.
However, Kraken has been struggling to operate efficiently during the brutal crypto winter that’s seen multiple firms going bust, the largest of them being the exchange’s competitor FTX. This forced the exchange to make the decision to fire almost a third of its employees, bringing the team size back to where it was 12 months ago.
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“Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets. This resulted in significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups. We responded by slowing hiring efforts and avoiding large marketing commitments. Unfortunately, negative influences on the financial markets have continued and we have exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand,” Powell said.
Powell added that the company will cover 16 weeks of base pay for all departing employees and offer four months of healthcare continuation coverage, among other benefits.
Despite the layoffs and the current difficult state of the industry, Powell remains optimistic about the future of the company and crypto in general.
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“Our mission to empower people with new ways to connect and transact is most important to us – it’s what keeps me going every day and it’s why we’re all here. I’m confident the steps we are taking today will ensure we can continue to deliver on our mission which the world needs now more than ever before. I remain extremely bullish on crypto and Kraken,” he said.
Kraken joins Coinbase as another major crypto exchange that has recently made job cuts. The exchange fired 1,100 people in June and another 60 in November, citing the need to operate more efficiently during the crypto bear market.
On the Flipside
- Layoffs at crypto companies have become the norm this year, with many firms having to significantly trim their workforces after overhiring during the unprecedented bull market of 2021.
Why You Should Care
Kraken is considered one of the most trusted centralized exchanges in the market. Its decision to cut almost a third of its global workforce speaks to the gravity of the current bear market.
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