Kraken CEO Jesse Powell To Step Down, COO To Take His Place

Jesse Powell will be succeeded as CEO by chief operating officer Dave Ripley, who has been with the crypto exchange since 2016. Jesse Powell, the co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, will be stepping down after leading the platform for more than 11 years.In a Wednesday announcement, Kraken says Powell will be succeeded as CEO by chief operating officer Dave Ripley, who has been with Kraken since 2016. The soon-to-be former CEO will stay with the crypto exchange as the chair of the board, while the company will search for a new chief operating officer.Ripley said his goals....

Kraken, a reputable Bitcoin exchange launched trading in Japan at the end of October. With the collapse of Mt. Gox, setting up a reputable and publicly trusted exchange in Japan is no easy task. Kraken has a great record of high transaction volumes as well as reputation for compliance with the law. Even though Kraken boasts credentials, months of work went into launching a regulated and publicly accepted Bitcoin exchange in Japan. Kraken is the only Japan Bitcoin exchange that allows local funding options. I got a chance to interviewKraken CEO Jesse Powell about the Japanese launch and....

Even though Kraken is based in the US and facilitates exchanges between a number of different cryptocurrencies, its customer base is decidedly euro-driven. In fact, according to BitcoinAverage, Kraken has over 50% of the EUR/BTC market. That makes it the largest player in that trading pair. Due to regulatory issues in the US (which has 50 different states with 50 different ideas about money transmission), Kraken leans on its European banking partnership with Germany-based Fidor. Even with that geographic bent, being San Francisco-based has had benefits for Kraken, and, in March, the....

Photo by _Mo. Ripple Labs co-founder Jed McCaleb's recent decision to sell his entire stock of XRP was the start of a difficult week for the open-source payments processor. After McCaleb made his announcement, Ripple's price took a steep fall. Investor confidence declined further when Jesse Powell, known by most as CEO of Kraken, resigned from the board of Ripple Labs and levied some disturbing remarks about the company's management. Feeling betrayed, Ripple had their lawyers draft and send Jesse Powell a cease and desist letter. Powell posted that letter online for the Ripple community to....

After publicly resigning from Ripple, former board member Jesse Powell now faces legal trouble with the company. Ripple is having a very messy week. First, co-founder Jed McCaleb publicly decided to liquidate his XRP, which comprised 20% of the entire market cap. Unsurprisingly, the price fell by over 50% during the subsequent 48 hours. After McCaleb's decision to sell his XRP holdings, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell announced his resignation from the Board of Ripple Labs in a candid post on the /r/Ripple subreddit. Following Powell's public resignation, a lawyer for Ripple Labs sent a....