Kraken lays off staff, announces new co-CEO

Kraken says it needs to be “leaner” moving forward as it appoints a board member as co-CEO

article-image

Maor_Winetrob/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Kraken announced layoffs Wednesday as the crypto exchange looks to shift its organizational structuring. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how many roles were impacted, and a Kraken spokesperson declined to comment.

New York Times reporter Mike Isaac said 15% of roles were impacted, citing sources. 

Loading Tweet..

“As we’ve grown north of $1 billion in net revenue as a remote organization worldwide, we fell into the trap of building organizational layers. We put managers in charge of the successes or failures of the groups they controlled, and we predicated success based on siloed P&Ls,” a blog post said.

“At its best, this structure can provide clear paths for ‘managers’ whereby they can move from smaller, less complex areas of focus to progressively larger and more complex ones. So, ‘managers’ are incentivized to do the wrong thing.”

The exchange said that it needed to get “leaner” as it moves forward, echoing a sentiment heard from Consensys CEO Joe Lubin when he announced that his firm laid off 20% of its staff on Tuesday.

Read more: dYdX, Consensys layoffs shake up the space

“Looking ahead, I see a next generation economy not dominated by large monolithic companies; instead, smaller, agile, AI-supercharged companies with Web3-based coordination tools will operate more efficiently. To stay competitive in this fast-growing space, we need to reshape ourselves and be more agile, more effective and even higher-performing,” Lubin said.

Additionally, Kraken appointed Arjun Sethi as co-CEO of the firm, who will join Dave Ripley in helming the exchange. Sethi previously served on Kraken’s board. 

Perp exchange dYdX also announced layoffs on Tuesday, announcing a reduction of 35%. According to its website, dYdX employed roughly 50 employees.

Blockworks reported last week that Helium’s parent firm laid off 40% of its staff back in August and Matter Labs told Blockworks that it let go of 16% of its staff back in September. 

The news comes after Kraken announced it was launching its own layer-2 called Ink, somewhat following in the footsteps of a competitor. Coinbase launched its own layer-2, Base, last year. Unlike Base, Ink plans to bring new users to DeFi.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross.
  • Forward Guidance: Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin.
  • 0xResearch: Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.
  • Lightspeed: All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
  • The Drop: The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

monad ecosystem report graphic.png

Research

Monad's testnet launch has shown promise with 57 geographically distributed validators and over 20 live applications on day one. However, the ecosystem's true test will come with mainnet as it transitions from testing to real economic activity alongside the launch of the native gas token.

article-image

New proposals continue to move beyond filings focused on solana, XRP and litecoin

article-image

BTC’s next major move “will likely be dictated by macroeconomic trends and could be decisive,” Bitfinex analysts said

article-image

Many traders remain optimistic that NVDA will rally at the end of the week, with calls hitting $145 to $160

article-image

Playful Studios CEO Paul Bettner reveals he’s had to protect Wildcard from “unaligned incentives” that could have hijacked the game

article-image

A misconfiguration on the testnet won’t impact Pectra’s mainnet launch, developers said

article-image

Michael Saylor’s not just behind Strategy’s big buys, he’s also looking to define asset classes