Crypto Exchange Kraken Has No US SEC Registration Plans, Says Incoming CEO
By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) – Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has no plans to delist tokens that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has designated as securities, or to register with the agency as a market maker, incoming CEO Dave Ripley said on Thursday.
The stance by the San Francisco-based platform, which says it has more than nine million customers, underscores the challenges the securities regulator faces in its efforts to rein in the crypto industry.
Kraken, which made headlines earlier this year when it rejected requests to block the digital wallet addresses of Russian users following the invasion of Ukraine, has long championed the libertarian values associated with cryptocurrency. The new CEO has promised to stay the course on the company’s culture.
Kraken announced Wednesday that often-controversial co-founder Jesse Powell would step down and that Ripley, Kraken’s chief operating officer, would assume the role of CEO after the firm hires a new COO.
Ripley will take the helm of Kraken not only at a time when the crypto market is facing a major slide, with bitcoin down nearly 60% this year, but also as the fast-growing industry has run afoul of regulators like the SEC.
Despite reports that the SEC is investigating Coinbase for listing several tokens on its platform, which the regulator identified as securities in an insider trading lawsuit in July, Kraken has no plans to delist those tokens from its exchange, Ripley said.
Ripley added that Kraken also sees no reason to register with the SEC as an exchange because his company does not offer securities, despite calls from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for crypto platforms to register.
“There are no tokens out there that are securities that we are interested in listing,” he said. “There could be a new token out there that becomes interesting and at the same time happens to be a security [and] if so, we would potentially be interested in that path.”
In a summer when once formidable players in the crypto market such as Celsius Network and Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy, and others such as Coinbase announced layoffs, Kraken has managed to avoid the market downturn and is now seeing opportunities.
“To the extent that there are opportunities for M&A in this environment, and perhaps if there is a company that actually goes through a bankruptcy process, then that is a potential for us to consider for sure,” Ripley said, adding that the company has not done that. some moves yet.
However, he said Kraken will consider acquisitions that strengthen its product and technology portfolio, especially as the exchange looks to expand its offerings with an upcoming platform for non-fungible tokens and banking services for institutional clients.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)
