Kraken has reorganized its staff across multiple departments in recent months as part of a strategic move before its planned initial public offering next year.
A Kraken spokesperson told Decrypt that the company continuously evaluates its workforce to ensure it aligns with its strategic priorities.
“We’re approaching this with discipline and intention, making the difficult decision to eliminate certain roles and consolidate teams where redundancies exist, while continuing to hire in key areas of the business,” they said.
The crypto exchange spokesperson added that Kraken is “launching more new products than ever before, driving strong revenue growth, and rapidly expanding across our entire product portfolio.”

Crypto Exchange Kraken Cuts Staff in Move to Be 'Leaner and Faster'
American crypto exchange Kraken has laid off staff, making it the third major company in the space to do so this week—despite a surging Bitcoin price that nearly touched an all-time high on Tuesday. The San Francisco-based exchange also said that Arjun Sethi has joined as co-CEO alongside David Ripley. Sethi is also co-founder and Chairman at Tribe Capital, and previously was part of the executive team at web pioneer Yahoo. Alongside the appointment, Kraken framed the layoffs as a pivot for the...
That includes a deal to acquire NinjaTrader, announced last month. Coindesk initially reported on Thursday that “hundreds” of employees have been laid off since Kraken trimmed 15% of its workforce in October.
When last year’s layoffs were announced, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and Dave Ripley said at the time they had fallen into "the trap of building organizational layers." Since then, Sethi and Ripley claimed they have sought to "tackle" the problem and "eliminate" those layers.
Kraken's reported restructuring and layoffs follow the dismissal of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against the exchange in March. Kraken spokespeople characterized it as the end of a "wasteful, politically motivated campaign."
Three weeks before the official lawsuit dismissal, Kraken's parent company, Payward Inc., confirmed with Decrypt that its plans to go public were part of a long-term roadmap.

Kraken Plots Public Offering After SEC Agrees to Drop Lawsuit: Bloomberg
As U.S. regulators take a more favorable stance toward cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reports that Kraken’s parent company, Payward Inc., is preparing to launch an initial public offering in 2026. If successful, the San Francisco-based exchange would become only the second publicly traded U.S. cryptocurrency exchange after Coinbase, which went public in April 2021. A Kraken spokesperson did not comment on a specific timeline, but told Decrypt that going public is indeed on its long-term roadmap. "We...
Kraken will "pursue public markets" because it "makes sense" for its clients, partners, and shareholders, a company spokesperson told Decrypt in early March.
The company is reportedly considering raising up to $1 billion in debt to accelerate growth ahead of going public, working with major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.
The exchange continues expanding its product portfolio, launching commission-free stock and ETF trading for U.S. customers on Monday. The company also completed a $1.5 billion acquisition of futures trading platform NinjaTrader earlier this year.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.