Kraken’s Dave Ripley Denounces SBF as a Fraudster

Dave Ripley – the incoming CEO of crypto exchange Kraken – said he has inside information that FTX scammed its users.

He expects more contagion from the crisis, assuring that his entity would not be affected.

More Pain Coming

In a recent interview for Bloomberg, Ripley described Sam Bankman-Fried (former CEO of the bankrupt platform FTX) as a “fraudster.” He also thinks it will take time for relevant watchdogs and the government to discover the reasons for the catastrophe and take adequate measures.

Other prominent individuals criticizing SBF include Michael Saylor and Changpeng Zhao. Binance’s boss recently classified him as “one of the greatest fraudsters in history” and a “master manipulator” who has corrupted media outlets to be presented as a “hero.”

According to Ripley, FTX’s collapse caused a severe blowback on the entire industry, expecting the domino effect of falling companies to continue. However, he assured the meltdown had not affected Kraken’s operation.

“It’s clear there’s going to be more contagion from FTX. We are not impacted by this contagion.”

Ripley also spoke of Jamie Dimon. The latter has been among the biggest critics of cryptocurrencies, labeling them “pet rocks.” Ripley believes Dimon is unaware of the merits of blockchain technology, hence his negative opinion.

Kraken Joined the Dismissal Spree

The US-based trading venue recently laid off approximately 1,100 of its employees, or 30% of its total workforce, to cope with the negative effects of the prolonged bear market:

“We responded by slowing hiring efforts and avoiding large marketing commitments. Unfortunately, negative influences on the financial markets have continued, and we have exhausted preferable options for bringing costs in line with demand.”

Commenting on the effort was Kraken’s Founder – Jesse Powell, who guaranteed that the exchange will be in much better shape after the amendments and will “take good care of our former colleagues.”

Multiple platforms have taken similar measures citing the harsh consequences of the crypto winter, with CryptoCom, Bybit, BitMEX, Huobi, Gemini, and Coinbase being some examples.

The world’s largest crypto exchange – Binance – was among the few to announce it will use the market decline as an opportunity to hire more people. CEO Zhao outlined during the summer that the firm has a “healthy war chest,” saying it will look for talents across the sector.

Source