Opinionated

Crypto Exchange Kraken’s Anti-Woke Stance: An Experiment in Crypto Workplace Culture

CoinDesk reporter Cheyenne Ligon unravels the workplace culture war waging at Kraken.

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ABOUT

After debate about the role of politics in the workplace erupted surrounding cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, CEO Jesse Powell offered a severance package to employees who weren’t ready to leave politics at the door. More than a month after the offer, less than 1% of employees have accepted.

“Opinionated” hosts Ben Schiller, Danny Nelson and Anna Baydakova are joined by CoinDesk reporter Cheyenne Ligon to discuss her piece “In Crypto Winter, Jesse Powell’s Pirate-King Leadership Style Might Be the New Normal” detailing the workplace culture war waging at Kraken, and how a crypto winter might be altering employees’ decisions. Are Kraken’s new standards for workplace culture going to become standard across the crypto industry?


I.D.E.A.S. 2022 by CoinDesk is the place to see your idea for the next big thing through – meet with leading investors, vet service providers and meet fellow visionaries. Learn more and apply to become a presenter today: coindesk.com/ideas

This show is produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl with additional production support and announcements by Michele Musso. Our theme song is by Elision.

HOSTS

Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Dan Ilett
Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Anna Baydakova
Danny Nelson

Danny is CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Danny Nelson
Benjamin Schiller

Benjamin Schiller is CoinDesk's managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

Benjamin Schiller
Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

Danny Bradbury