Discussion

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  As crypto markets collapse, Kraken, the US's 2nd largest exchange, is being divided by an internal culture war driven by CEO Jesse Powell. In recent months he has debated if people can choose their race or who can say the N-word. Employees are stunned. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Jesse Powell has said he's for libertarian free speech, but Kraken subpoenaed Glassdoor to get names of anonymous employees who left negative reviews. He also recently sued a Gavin Newsom recall group for revealing him as an anonymous $1 million donor. https://nytimes.com/...

• @arawnsley Adam Rawnsley on x

  Put everything else aside in this piece. If the CEO of your company is so bored and possessed of spare time that he spends his time doing weird culture war edgelord stuff instead of, you know, work, your CEO is either lazy or your company is adrift. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sarahjeong @sarahjeong on x

  i love this whole “i am a LIBERTARIAN and i believe in FREEDOM” and then being against choosing pronouns. i mean it's par for the course but also lol. this isn't an ellision of ~the freedom to misgender~ since my guy is comparing dolezal to trans identity https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @katebevan Kate Bevan on x

  Two things about this. First, good grief, what a raging toxic arsehole. And second, if you're working for a raging toxic arsehole, get another job. You're not going to change him or the company. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @gossithedog Kevin Beaumont on x

  .@krakenfx sounds like a fucking awful place to work with terrible and toxic leadership. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @clarajeffery Clara Jeffery on x

  As with Musk, “free speech” really means “speech I want to say without consequence but doesn't mean”....checks notes..."defining your own identity": https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x

  my “you cannot call other employees racist” t-shirt is raising a lot of questions answered by my “you cannot call other employees racist” t-shirt https://www.vice.com/...

• @heerjeet Jeet Heer on x

  If the economy really goes south after Powell raises rates more, we're going to see a lot more of this open tech racism and proto-fascism. https://twitter.com/...

• @jbarro Josh Barro on x

  Honestly I think it's ridiculous to go to work for a crypto exchange and then claim to care about any dimension of social consciousness. https://twitter.com/...

• @techwontsaveus @techwontsaveus on x

  “Kraken published a culture statement insisting it would continue to hire through the crypto downturn but only if applicants fit its new ‘crypto-first culture’, which means employees must 'not call someone's words toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic.'” https://www.vice.com/...

• @ryanhoulihan Ryan Houlihan on x

  Very cool community you guys have https://twitter.com/...

• @mikefreemannfl @mikefreemannfl on x

  Who can do what now? https://twitter.com/...

• @hansmollman Mollie Goodfellow on x

  Sorry this man plays with imaginary money all day https://twitter.com/...

• @torriangray Jort-Michel Connard on x

  Lol every time https://twitter.com/...

• @arrington @arrington on x

  @RMac18 @jespow I read it and yes, I would characterize it as a hit piece.

• @karlbode Karl Bode on x

  i'm just so violently bored with crypto dudebros trying to dress up ignorance and a lack of empathy as some revolutionary ethos https://twitter.com/...

• @maxberger Max Berger on x

  Reasons it would be helpful if crypto collapses entirely before it fully goes mainstream: - Fewer normal investors hurt - No systemic risk to broader economy - Less money for crypto-billionaires to corrupt our politics - Guys like this would be less rich https://twitter.com/...

• @vicenews @vicenews on x

  Crypto Exchange CEO said workers were upset by things like “pronouns, [and] whether someone can identify as a different race and be allowed to use the N-word.” https://www.vice.com/...

• @davekarpf @davekarpf on x

  Plenty of reasons to root for a crypto death spiral. This article points to one: it is not a good thing that dudes like Jesse Powell have gotten so phenomenally wealthy that we have to take their bullshit seriously. We're collectively better off when these dudes are less rich htt…

• @polarscribe Travis Mason-Bushman on x

  I'm shocked, shocked to learn that there is toxic workplace culture in an industry that is, in substance, an enormous Ponzi scheme predicated on an endless supply of bigger fools. https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Btw the look-at-me-I-peed-on-the-floor bratty toddler aspect of this techie's personality cannot be understated: Inside Kraken's Culture War Stoked by Its C.E.O. - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x

  this week's entry in Crypto Is OK: a major crypto currency exchange published a turgid manifesto extolling the virtues of libertarianism. meanwhile on Twitter, its chief executive mocked employees for getting upset about the n-word and pronouns https://www.vice.com/...

• @richardhanania Richard Hanania on x

  “Some workers have openly challenged the chief executive for what they see as his ‘hurtful’ comments. Others have accused him of fostering a hateful workplace and damaging their mental health.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @chadloder Chad Loder on x

  Why are Kraken employees stunned? The CEO's twitter has been public for a long time, he follows tons of white nationalists. https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Obviously this all starts with the CEO, but it's really striking the degree to which Slack is a main character in every story about a workplace melting down https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @pt Parker on x

  Coinbase: no politics at work! Kraken: all the politics at work! https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  The infighting began in late April, after a worker shared a video insinuating women did not understand the value of Bitcoin. On Slack, Powell called debates over women's risk appetites and intelligence “not as settled as one might have initially thought.” https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @dmccabe David McCabe on x

  A crypto CEO said that questions of women's intelligence and risk appetite compared to men were “not as settled as one might have initially thought” and that most “American ladies have been brainwashed in modern times.” https://www.nytimes.com/... via @RMac18 @yaffebellany

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  For more on Kraken's internal culture, here's one Slack group that counts its CEO as a member and compares itself to 4chan. You know, that anonymous ephemeral message board that was cited by the Buffalo gunman in his recent manifesto. https://nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/.…

• @bitfinexed @bitfinexed on x

  The Tether fraud exchange Kraken, which allowed Bitfinex shareholders to wash trade Tether so they could artificially maintain the peg, turns out to be an actual scumbag. Who could have predicted this? https://twitter.com/...

• @eringriffith @eringriffith on x

  when freedom of ideas means passing the “ideological purity test” and suing ex-employees over their reviews on glassdoor https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Here is longtime Kraken exec Christina Yee urging people to quit in Slack on Monday. The “CEO, company, and culture are *not* going to change in any meaningful way,” she wrote. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Powell told employees to leave if they don't like how the company is run. Kraken unveiled a buyout program called “Jet Ski” for those who can't get on board with its “libertarian” principles. It offers 4 months pay if they agree to never work there again. https://t.co/5IfnB2Zksk

• @jespow Jesse Powell on x

  1/ We recently attempted to summarize what the @krakenfx culture has been over the past 11 years, and what we hope it continues to be. We had a few heated debates and it turns out we have about 20 people out of 3200 who are totally not on board. 👇🧵 https://t.co/Ht6bagQ6T1

• @jespow Jesse Powell on x

  10/ Unfortunately, that's not enough for everyone. Someone's likely been sharing internal chat (in breach of their NDA) devoid of context, with a journalist who we expect to publish a hit piece in the next few days. I just want to say we welcome all, and don't believe the news.

• @krakenfx @krakenfx on x

  What does it all mean? It's time to get back to building! We've got 500+ roles still left to fill this year. Bear markets are the best for recruiting talent that is both aligned with our culture and our mission. Check out Kraken Culture Explained for more. https://blog.kraken.com…

• @molly0xfff Molly White on x

  Kraken CEO Jesse Powell also made a tweet thread calling out the current employees who disagree with the culture changes, writing that among other things they are upset about “whether someone can identify as a different race and be allowed to use the N-word” https://t.co/LHt6QkEW…

• @jespow Jesse Powell on x

  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?

• @acidic Andrew Macrae on x

  This is incredible. ‘Bitcoin removes politics from money.’ But also, ‘We will engage in lobbying, as a single-issue donor, supporting controversial politicians and legislation that furthers The Mission, possibly to the detriment of other civil rights causes.’ https://twitter.com/…

• @a_centrism @a_centrism on x

  If I owned a company it would be neither woke nor anti-woke — for the simple reason that no one (including the owner) would be permitted to make political statements or gestures of any kind on the job. It would be a place to work, and not an extension of the culture war. https://…

• @asvanevik Alex Svanevik on x

  gotta love this @krakenfx energy https://blog.kraken.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Ahead of our story on Kraken, its CEO said we were working on a “hit piece... devoid of context.” I disagree. We tried to present what has happened at his company since April fairly. But if he wants context, maybe he should publish his Slack logs. https://twitter.com/...

• @gidmk @gidmk on x

  Amazing. Crypto bros continue to out-crypto themselves https://twitter.com/...

• @grady_booch Grady Booch on x

  Kraken has the kind of brogrammer development culture that is a stain on the entire computing industry. https://twitter.com/...

• @micsolana Mike Solana on x

  i've not spoken with a single serious founder who isn't struggling with a small group of workplace activists. two ways out: 1. don't hire crazy people 2. if you accidentally hired crazy people, initiate a “no more crazy stuff at work” policy and pay the crazy people to leave http…

• @lizzywol Liz Wolfe on x

  It is so confusing to me how such small groups of woke sociopaths manage to so frequently hijack companies, publications, and universities. “Stop being crazy” seems to be an appropriate approach, with a “you're fired” closely behind that, if behavior isn't remedied. https://twitt…

• @pierre_rochard Pierre Rochard on x

  To clarify, my departure from Kraken is despite its incredibly based culture, not because of! I'll be cheering them on as they continue to accelerate global, inclusive #bitcoin adoption 💜🙌 They have lots of great career opportunities in all areas: https://blog.kraken.com/... http…

• @jasonzweigwsj Jason Zweig on x

  some serious libertarian flexing going on here https://twitter.com/...

• @ruskin147 Rory Cellan-Jones on x

  Well the CEO of this crypto firm is going for Boss of the Year. Can't wait for the whistleblower documentary about its inevitable implosion https://twitter.com/...

• @iron_spike @iron_spike on x

  Ten bux says everyone involved in the implementation of these measures were sneering at/dunking on “safe spaces” and/or “echo chambers” within recent memory. https://twitter.com/...

• @gbousis George D. Bousis on x

  Spot on thread by @jespow https://twitter.com/...

• @antoniogm @antoniogm on x

  I love that corporate management's reaction to the now inevitable woke micro-rebellion that happens at any company is just “it's a tiny number of people, not representative of the whole that wants to work and build.” We will now proceed to ignore them while managing them out. htt…

• @austen Austen Allred on x

  So I think there's something deeper here than standard US culture wars: Companies being international trying to share the same values is a fundamentally different problem. https://twitter.com/...

• @mshannahmurphy Hannah Murphy on x

  New trend: crypto CEOs being openly unhappy about their employees being openly unhappy The below from CEO of crypto exchange Kraken follows this similar thread from Brian Armstrong of Coinbase last week - https://t.co/VE9zG6RoZB https://t.co/u5CqNBsqFS

• @steveparks Steve Parks on x

  Tech bros are gonna tech bro... but I wonder if there's some reading to do between the lines here? They don't want the market confidence hit of making layoffs, but they could do with quite a few staff ‘choosing’ to quit, so are trying to trigger that? https://twitter.com/...

• @chhopsky Chris Pollock on x

  like clockwork, the people who cry about freedom, decentralization, and call people snowflakes actually just want to be able to do whatever they feel like with no repercussions, and will have a little tantrum when they get pushback https://twitter.com/...

• @human_not_bees @human_not_bees on x

  The crypto bros have decided that you increase openness by banning the word “racist” https://twitter.com/...

• @eyilanke @eyilanke on x

  You can see the red flags from Saturn. https://twitter.com/...

• @bleything Ben Bleything on x

  From just this one tweet you might think to yourself “wow, that sounds... pretty bad?” and you'd be right but if you don't read the full thread you're really missing out on exactly bananas this whole thing is https://twitter.com/...

• @richburroughs Rich Burroughs on x

  All of this shit makes a lot more sense when you understand that cryptocurrencies are a concept deeply rooted in libertarianism. I was on the Cypherpunks email list in the 90s when the initial round of digital currencies were being used (DigiCash, CyberCash, etc.). https://twitte…

• @ummjackson Jackson Palmer on x

  Great thread from Molly on the bizarre trajectory of Kraken. https://twitter.com/...

• @ijbailey @ijbailey on x

  Acceptance of a “diversity of thought” - except for those who want to call out sexism and racism. How convenient. https://twitter.com/...

• @wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x

  Diversity of thought, but you can't call out racism or bigotry. https://twitter.com/...

• @heyjovo John Voss on x

  This thread is fucking wild and I hope it goes as well for them as it did Coinbase. https://twitter.com/...

• @tangotiger @tangotiger on x

  If I am reading this thread correctly: Expect Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play the CEO of Kraken on HBO soon... https://twitter.com/...

• @heyjulesfern Jules Glegg on x

  Crypto proponents: everyone is welcome in crypto 😊 Crypto companies: we strive to create the least inclusive environment possible. Our culture is precision-tuned to maximally enable dipshits https://twitter.com/...

• @battymamzelle @battymamzelle on x

  Sounds like a cult. https://twitter.com/...

• @parkermolloy Parker Molloy on x

  Ah, nothing says “diversity of thought” quite like prohibiting people from acknowledging when they're being attacked. “Diversity of thought” is *always* a way for companies to be like, “Okay, we'll ALLOW [marginalized group] work here, but they're gonna have to let us bully them”…

• @molly0xfff Molly White on x

  The announcement includes the headings “More Pirate than Professional” and “Differences of Opinion”. They write, “If nobody is ever offended, we either don't have enough diversity of thought or we don't have enough transparency in communication.”

• @molly0xfff Molly White on x

  Next section: “Someone Must be Offended, Some of the Time”. “If nobody is ever offended, we either don't have enough diversity of thought or we don't have enough transparency in communication.”

• @molly0xfff Molly White on x

  “We do not call someone's words toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic, unhelpful, etc.”

• @evacide Eva on x

  Kraken has several openings in their HR department, which is why I assume there was no one in the room to point out that this “culture overhaul” is just a bunch of labor law violations in a trenchcoat. https://twitter.com/...

• @molly0xfff Molly White on x

  “We reject the myopic view that ‘diversity’ can be captured by a short checklist of obvious physical features. Silicon Valley's view of diversity in the world is dangerously limited, a commodification of individuals, and a disturbing reflection of profound ignorance.”

• @chadstanton @chadstanton on x

  *Whole EEOC office warming up* https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  We raise more money when we “own the Libs” and with plummeting crypto we need the infusion from bigotry ( also we ain't making none of the numbers we promised ) https://twitter.com/...

• @borrowcheck Artur on x

  Kraken is the most solid company in crypto. I joined in the middle of the 2014-2017 bear market and I'm hitting 6 years this August (!!) Don't despair. Bear markets are for building. Join us! https://blog.kraken.com/...

• @mslopatto Elizabeth Lopatto on x

  well, I suppose this is one way to avoid layoffs: “don't call stuff racist. if that bothers you, quit.” https://blog.kraken.com/...

• @alexhern @alexhern on x

  This reads an awful lot like Kraken wants a lot of staff to leave very quickly https://t.co/le0m7x7x4x

• @quinnypig Corey Quinn on x

  Well I just found another screaming red résumé flag. https://t.co/k2WjMpZh9w