Kraken Gets Battered in NY

Although Jesse Powell, the CEO of San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, sounded defiant in the above quote a few weeks ago, he has recently come to realise the significant pressures that federal institutions, like the SEC, the NY Attorney General and the NY State Administrator, can wield on non-complying companies like his.

This is despite Powell, claiming that he does not have NY residents as customers. Thirteen exchanges were subject to the inquiry and Kraken was the only one that responded to it with a defiant tone. Kraken claims that the inquiry does not apply to them since they do not serve NY residents and consider it a waste of time and resources to respond to it.

Kraken may realise that they will have to comply with the inquiry in the face of potential lawsuits and the threat of the shutdown of their exchange. More details can be found in the following reference articles.

References:

1. Show ‘Basic Respect’: Kraken CEO Double Downs on ‘Insulting’ New York Crypto Exchange Inquiry
2. Kraken Cracked By New York
3. Kraken’s Position on Regulation