Kraken named chief operating officer Dave Ripley as its next chief executive officer on Sept. 21, 2022, the company said in a blog post, as co-founder Jesse Powell shifted to chairman of the board after 11 years running the exchange1. Ripley had built out Kraken's operations for six years at Powell's side, and the company said he would “assume the role of CEO after a search for his successor is completed”.
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 |
18 CEO appointments on the record in 2022
CEO appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 18
- 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 | 8 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 17 |
| 2024 | 26 |
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2026 | 18 |
The move
Kraken called the choice the result of "a rigorous internal and external search over the past year"1. Ripley would take the title once the exchange filled his old job as chief operating officer. Powell framed the choice of his own deputy as continuity. “Dave's proven leadership and experience give me great confidence that he's the ideal successor and the best person to lead Kraken through its next era of growth,” Powell said.
Why hand the exchange to the person already running it? Ripley joined Kraken through its acquisition of Glidera, a crypto wallet funding service where he had been co-founder and CEO1. The company credited him with growing Kraken from 50 employees to more than 3,000 and completing over 16 acquisitions. He cast his own plan as a continuation of Powell's. “My vision, along with the rest of the leadership team, is in lockstep with Jesse's, to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency,” he said.
Kraken before and after
Powell traced his own decision to fatigue with daily management, he told Fortune, separate from recent media coverage of his personal views. “For me, this is about spending more time on stuff which I'm good at and enjoy doing, like working on product and industry advocacy stuff,” he said2. He planned to stay on as Kraken's largest shareholder and chairman. Kraken had "piled up a ton of cash" during the prior bull market, he said, cash that would help it weather a downturn. For his part, Ripley told Fortune he expected the exchange's internal culture to hold steady under his watch. “Jesse and I are in lockstep on culture and values though it does go without saying that I'm not the same level of cultural figure in terms of social media,” he said.
What came next
Ripley kept the chief executive seat through the next phase of Kraken's growth and into the run-up to a public listing. BeInCrypto reported on May 15, 2026, that Arjun Sethi had joined Ripley as co-chief executive shortly after a round of October 2024 layoffs, and that the pair led the company through further workforce cuts in early 2025 and a 150-job reduction disclosed that month3. By then Kraken's parent, Payward, had filed a confidential registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025 targeting a public valuation near $20 billion, before pausing its listing timeline in March 2026 over weak demand for recent crypto listings. Sethi said at the time that the company remained roughly 80 percent ready to go public, a comment BeInCrypto read as a sign the registration stayed active despite the delay.
Sources
- Kraken, "Kraken announces leadership succession plan," Sept. 21, 2022, https://blog.kraken.com/news/kraken-announces-leadership-succession-plan
- Jeff John Roberts, "Kraken's Powell steps down, incoming CEO says culture will not change," Fortune Crypto, Sept. 21, 2022, https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/09/21/krakens-powell-steps-down-incoming-ceo-says-culture-will-not-change
- 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