Kraken cut about 1,100 jobs, 30 percent of its global workforce, on Nov. 30, 2022, the exchange said in a blog post1. The cuts landed after the collapse of FTX, CNBC reported, amid what Kraken called a drop in trading volumes and client sign-ups2. CEO Jesse Powell wrote that Kraken had "exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand" after a stretch of rapid hiring.
Five of Kraken's 10 leadership moves on the record came in 2022, its busiest year
Leadership moves CryptoLately has verified at Kraken, by year
- 2022: 5
- 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2 |
11 rounds of layoffs on the record in 2022
Rounds of layoffs CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 11
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 |
| 2022 | 11 |
| 2023 | 12 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2025 | 5 |
| 2026 | 18 |
The move
Kraken's own account pinned the cause on macroeconomic and geopolitical pressure rather than any single event. “Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets,” the company wrote, adding that this "resulted in significantly lower trading volumes and fewer client sign-ups"1. Powell described the scale of the reversal in plain terms. “We had to grow fast, more than tripling our workforce in order to provide those clients with the quality and service they expect of us,” he said. “This reduction takes our team size back to where it was only 12 months ago”.
Why did Kraken cut 1,100 jobs on Nov. 30, 2022, after FTX's collapse? CNBC reported that Kraken's cuts came as “crypto exchanges have been buffeted by withdrawals and regulatory scrutiny after the implosion of FTX,” the outlet wrote2. Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group had cut about 13 percent of its staff that same month, CNBC noted, and Crypto.com had laid off 2,000 employees in October. Kraken's own blog post skipped FTX entirely, framing the cuts as a cost-management response to a year of slowing demand1.
Kraken before and after
The exchange detailed the severance it would offer departing staff. It listed 16 weeks of base pay, up to four months of healthcare coverage, an extended window to exercise vested stock options and visa support for employees on company sponsorship1. Powell closed his post by separating the decision from his outlook on the business. "I remain extremely bullish on crypto and Kraken," he wrote. CNBC's own report carried a correction, noting that an earlier version of its headline had understated the number of jobs cut, before the outlet confirmed the 1,100 figure with Kraken2.
What came next
The cost pressure Powell cited in 2022 recurred years later, as Kraken's parent company prepared for a public listing. BeInCrypto reported on May 15, 2026, that the parent, Payward, had cut 150 jobs, about 5 percent of its 3,000-person workforce. The outlet called it part of "a sustained workforce reduction that began in October 2024," when Payward eliminated roughly 400 roles, 15 percent of staff at the time3. Payward had filed a confidential registration statement with the SEC in November 2025, seeking a valuation near $20 billion, then paused its listing timeline in March 2026 after weaker demand for recent crypto listings, BeInCrypto reported. Hiring continued in derivatives, payments and tokenized assets even as the cuts went on.
Sources
- Kraken, "Kraken Takes Steps to Weather Crypto Winter," Nov. 30, 2022, https://blog.kraken.com/news/business-update
- Rohan Goswami, "Crypto exchange Kraken lays off 1,100 employees," CNBC, Nov. 30, 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/11/30/crypto-exchange-kraken-lays-off-1100-employees.html
- Lockridge Okoth, "Kraken Parent Payward Makes Deep Cuts as IPO Pressure Mounts," BeInCrypto, May 15, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZkFVX3lxTE1VZG1CY1VBRFZwQkJoLTBJRDZqRC1JZnUzeVJLTVEzZ3BYVUJXYUhMVWJ1eTg4MjZSLXVBTm5FalMtNW5XTTlkRmdtUHRWTmxpai1tamJ3R1NwN3NOV1JNVDd0VG0tZw?oc=5