Jesse Powell, the co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, is stepping down after leading the platform for more than 11 years.
According to an announcement on Wednesday, Kraken said that Powell will be succeeded as CEO by COO Dave Ripley, who has been with Kraken since 2016. The soon-to-be ex-CEO will remain with the cryptocurrency exchange as chairman of the board, as the company seeks a new director of operations.
Ripley said her goals were “in sync” with Powell’s amid his rise to the new leadership position. The soon-to-be ex-CEO said his decision to step back was due to Kraken’s growth: “It’s just become more tiring for me, less fun.” Powell added that he still planned to “remain very committed to the company.”
After my neck injury & surgery, I had a hard time getting deep sleep. I went extreme on diet, meal timing, cutting caffeine and optimizing environment. Still, I needed perfection to get a good night’s rest. Turns out, all I had to do was go back to lifting weights 30 min/day. pic.twitter.com/pZcg79E7O5
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) September 20, 2022
As the leader of Kraken since 2011, Powell led the US-based exchange through the early years of the cryptocurrency space. In 2021, Kraken was fined $1.25 million by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission for failing to register as a futures commission merchant and for illegally offering retail margined commodity transactions in digital assets. . Powell announced in April that Kraken would close its global headquarters in downtown San Francisco, and in June criticized “waked up activists” for not being a good fit to work at the exchange.
This story has been updated to include a statement from Kraken.
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