Crypto exchange Kraken starts global hiring push amid market downturn

Despite the current market turmoil, US-based crypto exchange Kraken announced it would be going on a global hiring drive, aiming to fill over 500 roles and revamping its recruitment thesis.

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In a blog post, Kraken said it does not plan to change its hiring strategy or make any layoffs. It also shared that the current market downturn would be good at “weeding out the applicants chasing hype from the true believers in our mission.”

The announcement comes shortly after Coinbase, Kraken’s major competitor, cut 18% of its staff and warned that a “crypto winter” was imminent. Other platforms, however, have echoed Kraken’s optimistic tone. The US branch of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said this week that it is “growing faster than ever.” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also said in a tweet that the company is hiring for 2,000 positions globally.

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In addition to its hiring push, Kraken also announced a five-pillar set of values that will guide its recruitment practice. Among these, the company will be requiring its employees to believe in the company’s mission, it said in the blog post. That mission is “freeing, democratizing, equalizing” billions of people from financial exclusion.

Other values include keeping up with crypto, acting more like a pirate than a professional, pursuing life, liberty, and sound money, and lastly, accepting differences in opinion.