from Hacker News

Kraken lays off 30% of staff

by Pils on 11/30/22, 4:37 PM with 223 comments

  • by woodruffw on 11/30/22, 5:05 PM

    > Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets.

    This is an incredible couching of the last 9 months of cryptocurrency market behavior. Does anybody actually operate on their belief that "geopolitical factors," rather than astonishing amounts of fraud, are responsible for the current downturn?

  • by throw8383833jj on 11/30/22, 4:55 PM

    At least they're handling it responsibly and generously: From their blog:

        Separation pay: We will pay 16 weeks of base pay for all departing Krakenites inclusive of the paid leave period.
    Performance bonus: For those eligible, we will pay each departing Krakenite their bonus as determined by their manager. 
    Benefits: We will offer eligible Krakenites 4 months of healthcare continuation coverage inclusive of the paid leave period. All Krakenites will continue to have access to counseling services during this period. 
    Extension of exercise window: We will extend departing Krakenites’ window to exercise their vested stock options.
    Immigration support: Kraken will provide dedicated visa and immigration support for those currently on company-sponsored visas.
    Outplacement support: We will provide career support for departing Krakenites, including networking opportunities, job search best practices, interview guidance, and more.

  • by psychlops on 11/30/22, 5:03 PM

    Don't they realize they are supposed to create a KRY currency and pump it up to supply value to their company and pay their employees? Perhaps if the CEO had gone to Stanford, he would have been better educated in effective altruism and have placed their needs higher.

  • by CommitSyn on 11/30/22, 4:55 PM

    > We’re reducing our global workforce by approximately 1,100 people, or 30 percent, in order to adapt to current market conditions.

    Why does a crypto exchange need 4,000 employees?

  • by naillo on 11/30/22, 5:20 PM

    Is it naive of me to think that CEOs aren't really much better macro predictors than most of us and are kind of doing this in a wave like fad "because that's what everyone else is doing"?

  • by nipponese on 11/30/22, 5:49 PM

    FWIW, Kraken is the most reputable and longest-running CEX. They even precede Coinbase.

    Edit: more better words.

  • by brink on 11/30/22, 5:02 PM

    I remember earlier in the year they said that they were unaffected by the bear market and were still hiring. [1]

    I interviewed with them earlier in the year, glad it didn't work out.

    [1]: https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-blockchaincom-and-k...

  • by eloff on 11/30/22, 5:14 PM

    I'm so glad I turned down the job offer at Kraken. The reason I turned it down was because I felt that crypto was a bubble waiting to pop (back in March, but that's been my "wrong" opinion for the last 5 years or more.) The tech stack was nice, the pay was excellent, the product I would have been working on is comparable to Bloomberg Terminal, so it was pretty cool too. But I just thought the job might go away in the near future.

  • by game_the0ry on 11/30/22, 5:10 PM

    If you have your crypto on Kraken, or ANY exchange for that matter, migrate your funds to cold storage self custody NOW. Figure it out, back up your keys on paper, it's not that hard.

  • by chson on 11/30/22, 5:19 PM

    All these layoffs make me a bit nervous to be graduating next week. There are still countless positions posted though so I'm still fairly optimistic about entering the job market.

  • by panzagl on 11/30/22, 5:11 PM

    30% of staff released by the Kraken...

  • by gigatexal on 11/30/22, 5:59 PM

    For a company built on a Ponzi-scheme (crypto) they sure are being good to their employees and that’s laudable.

    “Separation pay: We will pay 16 weeks of base pay for all departing Krakenites inclusive of the paid leave period.

    Performance bonus: For those eligible, we will pay each departing Krakenite their bonus as determined by their manager.

    Benefits: We will offer eligible Krakenites 4 months of healthcare continuation coverage inclusive of the paid leave period.

    All Krakenites will continue to have access to counseling services during this period.

    Extension of exercise window: We will extend departing Krakenites’ window to exercise their vested stock options.

    Immigration support: Kraken will provide dedicated visa and immigration support for those currently on company-sponsored visas.

    Outplacement support: We will provide career support for departing Krakenites, including networking opportunities, job search best practices, interview guidance, and more.”

  • by minusthebrandon on 11/30/22, 8:23 PM

    I received a message from a recruiter there last week. I mentioned that I wasn't interested because of the crypto market right now. Her response was basically to say "just found out the position is no longer being filled", which I'm assuming is because of the impending layoffs. Then this week I see they laid off 30% of their staff. It's crazy to think that they hadn't stopped hiring long before they decided to cut 1,000+ jobs.

  • by KrakenEng on 11/30/22, 6:41 PM

    This wasn't just a cut to sales or support staff. 30% of engineering was layed off. I would say QA/QE was decimated, but I'm not sure if anyone was left.

  • by kwertyoowiyop on 11/30/22, 6:22 PM

    “Krakenites” - oh that is maximal cringe

  • by Finnucane on 11/30/22, 4:52 PM

    "hundreds of millions of new users entered the crypto space"

    Without their crypto space suits, apparently.

  • by Veen on 11/30/22, 5:01 PM

    I'm flabbergasted they had so many employees that 30% is over 1000. Still, terrible time of year for this to happen to their employees.

  • by karp773 on 11/30/22, 6:26 PM

    > Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets.

    Am I the only one who finds it ironic that they blame geopolitical factors affecting what was shilled as a safe heaven from governments and geopolitical games?

  • by Animats on 11/30/22, 4:54 PM

    Is volume down, or is in-house speculation less successful?

  • by resuresu on 11/30/22, 5:04 PM

    The contagion continues to spread.

  • by woeirua on 11/30/22, 6:51 PM

    How long before they also file for bankruptcy?

  • by cmcconomy on 11/30/22, 5:45 PM

    what's kraken

  • by Animatronio on 11/30/22, 5:38 PM

    They committed the most heinous of all crimes - firing engineers. And then bragging about it on HN!

  • by fuzzythinker on 11/30/22, 6:52 PM

    Not to be confused with Kragen Auto Parts that was bought by O'Reilly Auto Parts.

  • by aruanavekar on 11/30/22, 5:04 PM

    Strange, LinkedIn shows staff of 500+ https://www.linkedin.com/company/krakenfx/ and the press-release mentioned "1,100 people, or 30 percent". Number do not add up.