Kraken

2011-07-28

Kraken (Payward, Inc.) founded by Jesse Powell, Thanh Luu, and Michael Gronager in San Francisco.

2013-09-01

Kraken opens to the public offering Bitcoin, Litecoin, USD, and EUR trading.

2020-09-16

Kraken Financial granted Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) bank charter in Wyoming — first cryptocurrency company to obtain a US bank charter.

2021-09-28

CFTC imposes $1.25 million civil penalty against Kraken for offering illegal off-exchange digital asset margin trading without registration.

2022-11-28

OFAC settles with Kraken for $362,158 over 826 transactions processed on behalf of individuals in Iran between 2015 and 2019.

2022-11-30

Kraken lays off approximately 1,100 employees, representing roughly 30% of its workforce.

2023-02-09

SEC charges Kraken and the exchange settles for $30 million over failure to register staking-as-a-service program as a securities offering; US staking program discontinued.

2023-04-01

Dave Ripley formally assumes role of CEO; Jesse Powell moves to board chairman.

2023-07-07

CoinDesk reports FBI is investigating Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell over alleged hacking and cyberstalking of Verge Center for the Arts nonprofit.

2023-11-20

SEC files lawsuit charging Kraken with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency; also alleges improper commingling of customer and corporate funds.

2024-06-09

Kraken receives a bug bounty alert about a zero-day vulnerability allowing artificial inflation of account balances; three individuals, later identified as including CertiK researchers, exploit the flaw and extract approximately $3 million from Kraken's treasury before the patch is deployed.

2024-08-30

ASIC wins court case against Bit Trade (Kraken Australia) for distributing an unlawful margin product to retail customers; Kraken restricts fiat margin trading for non-wholesale Australian clients.

2024-10-01

Kraken transitions to co-CEO structure with Dave Ripley and Arjun Sethi; lays off approximately 15% of workforce (around 400 employees).

2024-12-13

Australian court orders Bit Trade (Kraken Australia) to pay AU$8 million (approximately US$5.1 million) for unlawful margin product distribution affecting more than 1,100 retail customers.

2025-02-01

First insider threat incident identified: Kraken discovers a support employee had been recruited to provide improper access to limited client data after a tip about a video circulating on a criminal forum.

2025-03-03

SEC files joint stipulation with Kraken to dismiss its November 2023 lawsuit with prejudice, without penalties or required operational changes, citing shift in regulatory approach to crypto.

2025-03-20

Kraken announces agreement to acquire NinjaTrader, a US retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion — the largest deal combining traditional finance and cryptocurrency.

2025-04-08

Federal prosecutors inform Jesse Powell's attorney that the DOJ/FBI investigation into the Verge Center for the Arts nonprofit allegations has been closed without charges.

2025-05-01

Kraken completes $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader.

2026-04-13

Kraken publicly discloses it is being extorted by a criminal group threatening to release videos showing insider access to internal systems; approximately 2,000 accounts affected across two support-staff incidents; Kraken refuses to pay and engages law enforcement.

2026-04-17

Kraken's parent company Payward announces agreement to acquire derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million in cash and stock.