Kraken CEO Jesse Powell Net Worth and Biography

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell Biography

Education and Career of Jesse Powell

Jesse Powell was born in Sacramento, California in 1979. Powell keeps his personal life private hence details regarding his childhood or family are unknown. Coming to his education, Powell went to California State University, Sacramento and graduated with a degree in philosophy with a major focus on ethics and law.

Jesse Powell founded several companies before starting the Kraken, which is one of the top crypto exchanges. Initially, he founded Lewt Inc., which delivers account management and in-game currency services to online video game players. He was with this company for a decade from 2001 to 2011. Powell also worked with another online gaming-related company, Internet Ventures & Holdings.

Powell started the Verge Gallery & Studio Project, a contemporary art space in Sacramento. In 2010, he became the board member for the Verge Center and still holds this position. Later, Powell worked as a consultant for Mt. Gox to resolve a security issue. But, at the same time he started working on Kraken on the side.

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell

Jesse Powell finally launched Kraken in 2013 along with Thanh Luu and Michael Gronager. Initially, the company offered Bitcoin, Litecoin, and euro trades. Later, they also added additional currencies and trading strategies like margin trading. Powell has always been a strong believer of cryptocurrencies and their adoption. But, he never supported the regulation of the crypto industry.

Kraken eventually became one of the popular and reliable crypto exchanges in the industry. Its security features and trading services apply to different kinds of users. Powell was responsible for the company’s international expansion strategy. Kraken even became the first digital asset company to receive a US bank charter in Wyoming.

Powell has publicly made strong statements in response to New York Attorney General’s attempts to regulate and investigate Kraken. As a result, Kraken stopped offering its services to New York residents in 2015. Addressing the New York legal system, Powell wrote that the legal system is a foul creature and Kraken does not have the strength to face it.

The New York AG’s office published a report in 2018 stating that some crypto exchanges including Kraken may be operating illegally. Powell responded by comparing the New York legal system to a toxic ex who keeps on stalking you even after you broke up with them. He even believes that most crypto traders do not care about the legal protection from market manipulation.

Stepping Down as CEO of Kraken

Jesse Powell sent controversial messages to his employees while working as CEO at Kraken. He has been harsh with his employees and formed strict rules and policies. Powell even asked his employees to stop using preferred gender pronouns and started a controversial debate in the company’s Slack channel.

Powell and his colleagues even encouraged employees to leave the company who do not agree with the rules of their work culture. In the following months, Kraken laid off more than 1000 employees and offered severance packages. Later, Jesse Powell stepped down as CEO of Kraken in September 2022. He was succeeded by David Ripley who has been serving Kraken for 6 years.

Powell stated that the reason for stepping down as CEO was to focus more on the product development instead of dealing with random business obligations of a CEO. Recently in July, 2023 Powell was accused of hacking and cyberstalking non-profit organization, Verge Center of the Arts. As a result, there was an FBI raid on Powell’s house in Los Angeles.

Jesse Powell Net Worth

Jesse Powell’s net worth is in between $500 million to $1 billion with the major sources of his wealth being his stock holdings and investments. His role as co-founder and CEO of Kraken also contributed to his wealth. Some sources also state that Powell is one of the early Bitcoin investors.