Jesse Powell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kraken, is stepping down from his position, the Delaware-based digital asset exchange has confirmed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first published the news, Powell plans to stay active in the company by spending his time on product development and industry advocacy.
Powell has been a major part of the crypto ecosystem since the early days, having founded Kraken in 2011, only two years after the creation of Bitcoin.
He has since become an outspoken critic on topics ranging from crypto regulation to culture wars.
In June, Powell drafted a blog post rallying against “wokeness”, censorship and other libertarian talking points.
8/ Then it's about "silencing" people ????. Funny thing is the biggest activists have the most myopic view of the world. They don't realize how discriminatory they are to others. You want to be "inclusive" by asking an ESL Saudi candidate his pronouns/gender in a job interview?
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) June 15, 2022
Outspokenness aside, Powell successful built Kraken up as the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.
According to data supplied by CoinMarketCap, Kraken lists over 200 crypto assets and nets over one million weekly visits trading up to US$1bn daily.
As a company, Kraken is valued at US$10.8bn, according to the WSJ.
Powell, who will be succeeded by chief operating officer Dave Ripley, will remain on the board as the company’s largest shareholder.
Hats off to @jespow for building Kraken for 11 years, with many contributions to the industry. Like raising a kid, a founder has to let go sooner or later. All the best! ????
— CZ ???? Binance (@cz_binance) September 21, 2022
Changepeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, head of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, praised Powell’s contributions to the industry in a Twitter post.
“Like raising a kid, a founder has to let go sooner or later,” said CZ, possibly pointing to his own succession plan in the near future.