Kraken

28 July 2011

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

September 2013

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

16 September 2020

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

28 September 2021

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

28 November 2022

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

30 November 2022

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

9 February 2023

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.

April 2023

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

7 July 2023

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

20 November 2023

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.

9 June 2024

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.

30 August 2024

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.

October 2024

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

13 December 2024

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.

February 2025

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.

3 March 2025

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.

20 March 2025

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

8 April 2025

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.

May 2025

Kraken completes $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader.

13 April 2026

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.

17 April 2026

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