The cryptocurrency exchange platform Kraken announced in June that it planned to hire 500 new employees as long as they shared the company's "crypto-first culture," which presumably includes refraining from characterising other people's opinions as "toxic, hateful, racist, or xenophobic." Kraken is currently reducing spending after a period of rapid growth due to "significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups."According to Powell, Kraken tried to adapt to the unstable economy by cutting back on recruiting and “avoiding large marketing commitments.” Still, the company eventually ran out of cost-cutting options. Those terminated from their jobs will receive 16 weeks of severance compensation and four months of health insurance coverage. Furthermore, Kraken will assist employees in acquiring company-sponsored visas and equip them with career networking resources.
“I’m confident the steps we are taking today will ensure we can continue to deliver on our mission which the world needs now more than ever before,” Powell writes. “I remain extremely bullish on crypto and Kraken.”
Kraken settled sanctions violations against Iran claims with the US Department of the Treasury earlier this week for more than $360,000. Recently, DoorDash announced that it would be laying off about 1,250 people, and now comes word that the Kraken will be doing the same. This underscores the broader challenges of the crypto business in the wake of FTX’s collapse and comes after a wave of job cuts that impacted staff at Meta, Amazon, Snap, Twitter, and several others.