Crypto Exchange Kraken Has No US Watchdog Registration Plans: New CEO
Kraken’s new CEO said he sees no reason to register with the SEC as an exchange.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has no plans to delist tokens that have been labeled as securities by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, or to register with the agency as a market intermediary. Yes, incoming Chief Executive Officer Dave Ripley said Thursday.
The stance of the San Francisco-based platform, which says it has more than nine million clients, underscores the challenges the securities regulator faces in trying to rein in the crypto industry.
Kraken, which made headlines earlier this year when it denied requests to block Russian users’ digital wallet addresses after the attack on Ukraine, has long supported the libertarian values associated with cryptocurrency. Its new CEO has promised to uphold the company’s culture.
Kraken announced Wednesday that its often-controversial co-founder Jesse Powell will step down and assume the CEO role after Ripley, Kraken’s chief operating officer, hires the firm’s new COO.
Not only will Ripley take over the helm of Kraken at a time when the crypto market is facing a major loss, with bitcoin down nearly 60% this year, but also the fast-growing industry’s disagreements with regulators like the SEC. Is.
Ripley said that despite reports that the SEC is investigating Coinbase for listing several tokens on its platform that the regulator identified as securities in a July insider trading lawsuit, Kraken will continue to list those tokens on its own. There are no plans to delist from the exchange.
Ripley added that Kraken also sees no reason to register as an exchange with the SEC because his company does not offer securities despite calls by SEC Chair Gary Gensler for crypto platforms to register. Is.
“There are no tokens that are securities that we are interested in listing,” he said. “There might be some new token that becomes interesting as well as a security [and] In that case, we would probably be interested in that route.”
Over the summer, when once-strong players in the crypto market such as Celsius Network and Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy, and others such as Coinbase announced layoffs, Kraken managed to survive the market downturn. is, and is now looking for opportunities.
“To the extent that there are M&A opportunities in this environment, and perhaps if it’s a company that’s actually going through a bankruptcy process, that’s certainly a potential for us to consider,” Ripley said. Any move yet?, the company added.
However, he said Kraken will consider acquisitions that strengthen its product and tech portfolio, especially as the exchange offers institutional clients non-fungible tokens and upcoming platforms for banking services. Saath wants to expand its offerings.
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