Crypto exchange Kraken has announced that it is laying off 400 employees, including executives in senior roles. According to the exchange, Arjun Sethi will assume the role of its Co-CEO as it continues to work on streamlining operations while delivering swift service.
With about 15% of its staff let go, the company continues to put itself in a better position in the competitive market. However, another question on the lips of market participants is whether the job cuts are happening because operations are moving on-chain.
Kraken axes 15% of its employees
The crypto exchange already confirmed plans to lay off 15% of its employees while making several managerial changes. In a memo containing the announcement released on Wednesday, the firm announced that Arjun Sethi will become co-CEO with Dave Ripley.
The new development could mean the company changes its organizational approach and product development. Kraken noted that to achieve its goal of being the best, it needs to cut down organizational layers to become leaner and more agile.
The exchange said that the new setup will provide managers with a clear path where they can move from smaller and less complex areas to larger and more complex areas. A New York Times report mentioned that the company previously had 2,600 employees, with 400 being laid off. Kraken’s Chief operating officer, Giles BianRosa, and Chief technology officer, Vishnu Patankar, were part of the casualties.
Exchanges begin to move operations on-chain
Before this layoff, the company had carried out one in 2022 that led to the loss of 1,100 employees. At the time, its former CEO and co-founder Jesse Powell stepped down, with David Ripley assuming the position soon after.
According to CoinGecko data, Kraken barely made the top 5 cut in trading volume with $801 in 24 hours. The exchange also boasts of about 5 million monthly visits. Leading the group is Binance, with a trading volume of $9.87 billion and a monthly visit of 54.2 million users. Bybit takes second with a $4.16 billion volume and 22.8 million in visits, while Coinbase ranks third with $2.26 billion in volume and 30 million monthly visits. OKX rounds up the list in fourth with a trading volume of $1.99 billion and 17.7 million monthly visits.
Crypto journalist Jax Dwyer has argued that operations of traditional exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken might be suffering due to their move on-chain. He noted that Coinbase recouped $3.78 million in profits from its Layer-2 solution Base in October.
In his report, Dwyer noted that their moves on-chain transactions will provide them with a new revenue stream and scalability. Kraken recently launched its Layer-2 solution called Ink. This development means CEX will bring competition to the decentralized sector. However, it does not mean that they will replace the traditional activities of the exchanges.