Kraken Founder on FTX CEO’s ‘Sociopathic Behavior’: “I’m really Trying To Control My Rage”

On Thursday (10 November 2022), Jesse Powell, Co-Founder (and former CEO) of crypto exchange Kraken found time to comment on the alleged actions of Samuel Bankman-Fried (aka “SBF”), Co-Founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX.

This Twitter thread by Jonathan Wu, who works at Aztec Network, nicely summarizes most of the crazy events of the past couple of days as far as FTX and Alameda Research are concerned:

Around 9:00 p.m. UTC on 9 November 2022, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the FTX CEO was calling around to get emergency funding of up to $8 billion in order to handle withdrawals. One of those people and companies that SBF probably has been talking to is Kraken, the CEO of which was interviewed on Bloomberg Television.

Well, earlier today, Powell took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the potential collapse of FTX, which has been accused of playing with customer funds:

He went on to say:

“Our good, trusting nature makes us easy targets for con artists. Some even tell us straight up that they’re here for profits, not crypto, and we praise them for their honesty. Yet we’re surprised when they turn out to be who they said they are. We need to raise our standards… This isn’t about aiming high and missing. This is about recklessness, greed, self-interest, hubris, sociopathic behavior that causes a person to risk all the hard-won progress this industry has earned over a decade, for their own personal gain. While already being rich AF…

“We let clowns ride under our banner while they sell us out for their own interests. We give them power to speak for us but they haven’t earned that privilege. When they blow themselves up, it’s our house, our reputation, our people which bear the brunt of the damage… The damage here is huge. An exchange implosion of this magnitude is a gift to bitcoin haters all over the world. It’s the excuse they were waiting for to justify whatever attack they’ve been keeping in their back pocket. We’re going to be working to undo this for years…

“Thankfully, Kraken wasn’t exposed to any of the resent disasters. While we aim to give our clients access to bleeding-edge crypto products, we take a very conservative approach to our business operations, security and financial resiliency. Survival & mission above profit… I pray for everyone who got caught up in this mess. I hope it doesn’t turn you off of crypto. I hope you take care of yourself and continue to be a part of this community. These are growing pains. Money can be made again…“

Earlier today, crypto influencer “Cobie” sent out a tweet that shows some leaked information from SBF on an FTX Slack channel about his intention to “do right by customers”:

On Tuesday (8 November 2022), Coinbase Co-Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong did a decent job of reassuring the users of the exchange that what happened at troubled crypto exchange FTX was highly unlikely to happen at Coinbase.

Here are the main highlights of the mega Twitter thread that the Coinbase CEO posted:

“Coinbase doesn’t have any material exposure to FTX or FTT (and no exposure to Alameda)… This event appears to be the result of risky business practices, including conflicts of interest between deeply intertwined entities, and mis-use of customer funds (lending user assets)… we don’t engage in this type of risky activity…

“We don’t do anything with our customers’ funds unless directed to by the customer. We hold all asset dollar for dollar, and users can withdraw their money at any time… We are incorporated in the US, and publicly listed in the US because we believe that transparency and trust are so important. Every investor and customer can see our public audited financials, which shows how we hold customer funds. We’ve never issued an exchange token.“

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