JESSE Powell is the multimillionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
But what is the story behind the crypto entrepreneur?
Who Is Jesse Powell?
Jesse Powell went to California State University, where he studied Philosophy of Law and Ethics, but dropped out before graduating.
In 2001, Powell founded an E-commerce and brokerage firm for gaming virtual items and currencies.
Powell also launched an art gallery named the Verge Gallery and Studio project in 2007, which he left behind in 2010.
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In 2011 Powell started mining Bitcoin and soon got involved in the Bitcoin community, becoming a consultant for Mt Gox.
Mt Gox was handling over 70 per cent of all Bitcoin transactions at the time but ceased operations after it was hacked and hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins were stolen.
On July 28, 2011, Powell launched Kraken with Thanh Luu.
Today, Kraken is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and is valued at $10 billion.
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In 2022, Powell stepped down as CEO.
The founder had come under fire for allegedly “fostering a hateful workplace and damaging their mental health,” according to The New York Times.
But Powell believes it was a “blessing in disguise” and it turned out positively for the company.
Powell said: “Following that, we actually got just a surge in new job applicants, an unprecedented number of new job applicants, a lot of people saying they’re tired of the woke workplaces where they’re at and they would love to work in a place like Kraken with the kind of culture that we have.”
Powell said the entire incident “emboldened and galvanised” his team and helped Kraken “get out a lot of bad fits from the company.”
Kraken’s chief operating officer, Dave Ripley, is taking the reigns from Powell with the founder now planning to focus more on product development and industry advocacy.
What is Jesse Powell’s net worth?
Jesse Powell is believed to be rumoured between $500 and $700 million making him one of the wealthiest people in the cryptocurrency space.
Most of his wealth came from his success with Kraken but the entrepreneur has also had success with other businesses including the Verge art gallery, and the Lewt.inc marketplace.