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Kraken to Layoff 30% of its Workforce as Crypto Winter Bites

Validated Media

Kraken, one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the industry, has announced that it will be letting go of 1,100, or 30%, of its employees worldwide ‘in order to adapt to current market conditions.’

The changes at Kraken were made public by its co-founder and CEO, Jesse Powell, through a blog post in which he thanked all affected employees for their contributions to the company and said it will do its best ‘to help them transition to their next opportunity.’

He added that the job cuts would reduce Kraken’s team to what it was one year ago.

Kraken Grew Fast, but Macroeconomic and Geopolitical Factors Have Affected the Markets

Mr Powell explained that since its inception in 2011, Kraken had been a part of onboarding new users into the crypto space, thus resulting in tremendous growth in the company. ‘We had to grow fast, more than tripling our workforce, in order to provide those clients with the quality and service they expect of us,’ he stated.

But the state of the global economy has had its toll on all financial markets.

‘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,’ he added. ‘Unfortunately, negative influences on the financial markets have continued and we have exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand.’

Krakenites Affected Will Receive Comprehensive Support

Regarding support for affected Kraken employees, Mr Powell outlined the following measures to assist them moving forward.

  • 16 weeks of base pay
  • Individual performance bonuses to be determined by managers
  • Four months of healthcare continuation coverage and access to counselling services
  • An extension period for departing Krakenites to exercise their vested stock options
  • Immigration support for those working on company-sponsored visas
  • Career support for exiting employees ‘including networking opportunities, job search best practices, interview guidance, and more’
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