Kraken, a leading crypto exchange, says that Co-Founder and current CEO Jesse Powell is giving up his CEO role and becoming chairman of the board of directors.
According to Kraken’s press release, Dave Ripley, who has been the COO for the past six years, will become the CEO once Kraken has completed its COO search.
Powell said:
“Dave’s proven leadership and experience give me great confidence that he’s the ideal successor and the best person to lead Kraken through its next era of growth. I look forward to spending more of my time on the company’s products, user experience and broader industry advocacy.“
Ripley stated:
“United by our crypto-first culture, we will empower people to transact and connect in new ways. My vision, along with the rest of the leadership team, is in lockstep with Jesse’s – to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency.“
Yesterday, during an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang, Powell said that he was stepping up rather than stepping down to take “a higher level role at the chairman level” and “have ultimate oversight over the whole company”, leaving Ripley to “do all the hard work” for him.
He also mentioned that he hoped making this change would allow him to become more deeply involved with their products/services and “user experiences”.
When asked about JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon calling cryptocurrencies “decentralized Ponzi schemes” while testifying yesterday testify before the Democrat-led House Financial Services Committee. Powell made Chang laugh by saying that that crypto is “better than the centralized Ponzi scheme, which is the stock market and national currencies.”
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