29.03.2024

Kraken: Rumors of Office Closure are False

Kraken, one of the most important exchange houses of the crypto verse, denied yesterday a rumor that was spread within the community of crypto enthusiasts, that it had closed its offices suddenly after a violation of its security, causing alarm among its employees.

Kraken: Rumors of Office Closure are False

The post published in the subreddit of the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, mentioned that the exchange had closed its unit 102 at 60 Highfield park drive. This post received over 300 comments and was shared in several crypto-oriented websites and forums.

A Reddit Post Started It All

According to the original post, the atmosphere was apparently quite hectic, with “private security all over the place escorting people off the premises after making them sign voluntary quit forms.”

Kraken Halifax closes their doors forcing hundreds of people out of work, were you one of them? from halifax

One user, possibly a worker there, commented that the exchange held a “mandatory meeting”, in which they offered an “8 weeks pay as a severance package” for those who resigned before Friday. He mentioned that the company’s directors told them that their continuity of employment was not guaranteed should they not resign:

“10 AM, mandatory meeting. Security everywhere, required to hand in door fobs. Sitting in lunchroom, get told that due to volumes being down (both trading and support ticket), and in light of the opening of a new office in Asia, we need to reduce costs, and layoff of recently hired (<3 months, approx 57 people) was not enough.

We’re told that if we resign by Friday at noon, we’re given 8 weeks pay as a severance package. If we do not accept in time, they tell us that they cannot guarantee our continued employment. Sounds an awful lot like we just got laid off, right?

I can’t (read: don’t want to) talk more about it, but that’s what has been going down.”

Kraken Clarifies

After this momentary alarm, a Twitter user wrote to CBC Nova Scotia’s official account, asking if they had any confirmed information about the rumor or if they had any comments about it. CBC did not have to respond since one of Kraken’s official accounts, @krakensupport clarified that the rumor was false and that the famous exchange was not closing its offices, much less would have suffered some kind of security breach:

Shortly after that, Jesse Powell, Co-founder, and CEO clarified the point regarding personnel cuts. According to his statements, the rumors were exaggerated and out of context as the exchange just laid off about 10% of the Client-Services team as a cost-saving measure.

He further commented that the rest of the staff of other organizational units were not affected and that they were in fact “hiring globally for all functions.”

Kraken: An Exchange With a Successful 2018

During 2018, Kraken has taken several strategic decisions that have allowed it to position itself as an exchange of recognized solidity and stability. At the beginning of the year, the company published the decision to hire more than 800 individuals https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-exchanges-are-planning-to-hire-more-than-1000-staff-2018-2

So far the exchange trading is ranked 14th. The rumor did not affect the operations within its platform in a significant way. Kraken remains solid with $149.969.379 of 24 hour volume. Its offices in Canada are working normally at the time of this article. The Reddit post is still active, with the post discussing the legality of Kraken’s decision to lead tell its employees they should resign.

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