The Exchanges

Q Okay, so we dive down the rabbit hole. How does Kraken come to be then, and what does that entry point look like there?

A You know, right in 2013, um, I, uh, founded a company, Glidera, and that was a, you know, crypto company. We basically, uh, provided, um, Some tools, APIs to let all of the Bitcoin wallets at the time add Bitcoin buying and selling into their apps. Kraken was one of our partners. We used them on the back end for liquidity because they had a, you know, a nice, big, full, proper exchange that, that provided such things. So, um, knew some of the Kraken team, including, uh, Jesse from that angle. Um, it was 2016. We kind of started discussing about what's next for, uh, for Glidera. What's our next step? Another fundraise. You know, we had already done one, not You know, I don't know, year plus, uh, previous to that time frame, and we talked, uh, about the potential for, you know, acquisition, and so Kraken acquired, uh, my company was small at the time, Glidera, and I joined, uh, Kraken following, uh, found that acquisition.

AI assessment note: “Kraken acquired, uh, my company was small at the time, Glidera, and I joined”

Q Okay, so we dive down the rabbit hole. How does Kraken come to be then, and what does that entry point look like there?

A You know, right in 2013, um, I, uh, founded a company, Glidera, and that was a, you know, crypto company. We basically, uh, provided, um, Some tools, APIs to let all of the Bitcoin wallets at the time add Bitcoin buying and selling into their apps. Kraken was one of our partners. We used them on the back end for liquidity because they had a, you know, a nice, big, full, proper exchange that, that provided such things. So, um, knew some of the Kraken team, including, uh, Jesse from that angle. Um, it was 2016. We kind of started discussing about what's next for, uh, for Glidera. What's our next step? Another fundraise. You know, we had already done one, not You know, I don't know, year plus, uh, previous to that time frame, and we talked, uh, about the potential for, you know, acquisition, and so Kraken acquired, uh, my company was small at the time, Glidera, and I joined, uh, Kraken following, uh, found that acquisition.

AI assessment note: “Kraken acquired, uh, my company was small at the time, Glidera, and I joined”

Q Now, I want to break kind of the context part into two different parts. One is, like, what was your first engagement with crypto, and how did you first make your way into the world of crypto?

A So about 10 years for me, just over, actually. Um, at the time I learned about crypto, I was at Boston Consulting Group, a large strategy consulting firm, and, um, I was interested to get back to the tech industry. Um, also kind of had in the front back of my mind, you know, potentially founding a company. Individual who I learned, uh, uh, you know, learned about Bitcoin from happened to end up being my co-founder. Um, so that's actually how I initially learned about it. And then just, you know, like many others went down that rabbit hole. You know, I learned first about the tech, and then all of a sudden I, I, you know, was like, wow, that's super interesting. Then The economic side, the societal side, the government piece, all these different, uh, aspects of crypto, and, and spending, frankly, months kind of going down the rabbit hole, learning about, uh, crypto in every which way, also kind of like, um, going through the process, I think a lot of us do, of like, learning about crypto and saying, hey, this can't work because X, and then kind of go research it, and read more about it, and then get to the point where it's like, actually, maybe this actually would, would work for XYZ reasons. So, Super excited about it. It definitely aligns with, like, kind of my view on, you know, economic freedom and, uh, these pieces, and so just got incredibly excited about it.

AI assessment note: “Individual who I learned, uh, uh, you know, learned about Bitcoin from happened to end up being my co-founder.”

Q What's been the hardest things about transitioning into a CEO role? It's always difficult when you're bluntly that each CEO brings their own culture, especially a founder CEO. What have been the challenges?

A Let me see a couple of different things. One is, we did, uh, you know, do the transition, and, um, there was, uh, when we made the transition, there wasn't actually someone to come in and, like, fill my old role as COO day one. Uh, so that, that made for, like, an, an interesting start, and we, we were well down the process to actually doing that, finding someone to fulfill my role, because we had announced the CEO transition many months before, and we're in that recruiting process, and we were feeling relatively good about it, and, um, but we, we actually hadn't finalized it yet, and so I think that was probably one of the, or, or it was, is one of the bigger challenges, uh, you know, faced is just, Um, trying to identify the right kind of interim, ah, step for us to take while I was going to become CEO and still, you know, still have this, this role open, if you will. And there was a lot of, you know, frankly, a handful of great leaders at the company stepped up and, and really took on more and, um, you know, frankly, really allowed us to be kind of like successful through that period.

AI assessment note: “there wasn't actually someone to come in and, like, fill my old role as COO”

Q What's been the hardest things about transitioning into a CEO role? It's always difficult when you're bluntly that each CEO brings their own culture, especially a founder CEO. What have been the challenges?

A Let me see a couple of different things. One is, we did, uh, you know, do the transition, and, um, there was, uh, when we made the transition, there wasn't actually someone to come in and, like, fill my old role as COO day one. Uh, so that, that made for, like, an, an interesting start, and we, we were well down the process to actually doing that, finding someone to fulfill my role, because we had announced the CEO transition many months before, and we're in that recruiting process, and we were feeling relatively good about it, and, um, but we, we actually hadn't finalized it yet, and so I think that was probably one of the, or, or it was, is one of the bigger challenges, uh, you know, faced is just, Um, trying to identify the right kind of interim, ah, step for us to take while I was going to become CEO and still, you know, still have this, this role open, if you will. And there was a lot of, you know, frankly, a handful of great leaders at the company stepped up and, and really took on more and, um, you know, frankly, really allowed us to be kind of like successful through that period.

AI assessment note: “there wasn't actually someone to come in and, like, fill my old role”

Q And so on the utility side, what, what would that look like if we move away purely from the financial services space and the infrastructure that is used by consumers in a way that they don't know? What, what is that?

A Well, I mean, I think it could be a, uh, you know, a handful of different things. I mean, we have, we have, you know, payroll and, uh, remittance companies that are, uh, you know, clients for, for Kraken that, you know, run this business in, they simply use, uh, you know, Kraken for back-end liquidity, you know, to convert from, you know, fiat to, um, Uh, to crypto, and they use the, the crypto side of things to, you know, to move money from one, one geography to the next, but, you know, for their, their customers, they, um, you know, they are providing kind of like a fiat in, fiat in, fiat out on one side versus the other.

AI assessment note: “payroll and, uh, remittance companies that are, uh, you know, clients for, for Kraken”

Q the, like, yes, a lot of the financial services. It's not actually bad. Neobanks are innovating incredibly well on a lot of the traditional challenges. Even your new banks of the world. I agree. Brazilian banks were a nightmare. Uh, new bankers innovated incredibly well. And so I'm like, well, does it need a new currency or does it just need new providers, vendors, and products to make it better?

A And I just keep going. Let's keep going. What else are these currencies? It's supposed to do. Um, you know, one of them is to hold value, and you know, one of the things that we've seen to varying degrees, you know, substantial inflation. Um, and again, this varies significantly from one part of the world to the next, but, ah, this is a, a meaningful problem, you know, frankly, even just recently for, for people in the US, but substantially so in, in many different parts of the world. And that has, you know, gone on for a hundred of years, you know, hundreds of years, frankly, Since the existence of, uh, you know, creation of fiat currency, if you will.

AI assessment note: “one of them is to hold value, and you know... substantial inflation”

Q But I do just have to ask, you know, as we look towards, you know, bruntly the presidential election, how important is the presidential election for crypto in the U S I'm obviously outside the U S. So educate me. What impact does that have?

A I mean, look, the longer-term arc, we have a number of these candidates. I mean, almost if you look at that, that suite of candidates that are out there, they're all pro-crypto, pro-Bitcoin. Um, a lot of the ones that are, that are interesting, uh, candidates, you have RFK Jr., of course, he's independent now, started out Democrat, now independent, and then you go to the other side, uh, you know, Governor DeSantis, uh, Vivek, uh, The majority of the, the candidates out there are, um, you know, pro Bitcoin, pro cryptocurrency. Um, of course, you know, we, we don't, we don't frankly see any comments from, uh, you know, our current president on Bitcoin. We, we see it, you know, from, from, from his team, if you will. Um, so look, the long arc, I don't, I can't tell you who's going to win this election, but I, I will say that, you know, Over the coming set of elections, we will have a pro-Bitcoin, pro-cryptocurrency president, because crypto and Bitcoin are naturally going to grow. They add amazing value for individuals, and they're going to continue to grow.

AI assessment note: “almost if you look at that, that suite of candidates that are out there, they're all pro-crypto”

Q And so on the utility side, what, what would that look like if we move away purely from the financial services space and the infrastructure that is used by consumers in a way that they don't know? What, what is that?

A Well, I mean, I think it could be a, uh, you know, a handful of different things. I mean, we have, we have, you know, payroll and, uh, remittance companies that are, uh, you know, clients for, for Kraken that, you know, run this business in, they simply use, uh, you know, Kraken for back-end liquidity, you know, to convert from, you know, fiat to, um, Uh, to crypto, and they use the, the crypto side of things to, you know, to move money from one, one geography to the next, but, you know, for their, their customers, they, um, you know, they are providing kind of like a fiat in, fiat in, fiat out on one side versus the other.

AI assessment note: “payroll and remittance companies that are clients for Kraken that run this business”

Q Are you happy with that branding? Do the stadium deals necessary? I'm just fascinated to hear your thoughts on that.

A Yeah. Well, I think there's a couple of different things just on like evolution of Kraken's products. And one of the things we've done even more recently is actually start marketing. We, we almost made it You know, we made it to become an enormous, you know, multi-billion dollar company without frankly doing much marketing at all, which is kind of amazing in and of itself. But over the past year, in really almost over the past six to nine months, we've actually started to, uh, become a more meaningful player, uh, with marketing. And that has been one of kind of like the catalyst to drive more growth in those, those newer products for ourselves on the consumer individual retail side.

AI assessment note: “one of the things we've done even more recently is actually start marketing”

Q the, like, yes, a lot of the financial services. It's not actually bad. Neobanks are innovating incredibly well on a lot of the traditional challenges. Even your new banks of the world. I agree. Brazilian banks were a nightmare. Uh, new bankers innovated incredibly well. And so I'm like, well, does it need a new currency or does it just need new providers, vendors, and products to make it better?

A And I just keep going. Let's keep going. What else are these currencies? It's supposed to do. Um, you know, one of them is to hold value, and you know, one of the things that we've seen to varying degrees, you know, substantial inflation. Um, and again, this varies significantly from one part of the world to the next, but, ah, this is a, a meaningful problem, you know, frankly, even just recently for, for people in the US, but substantially so in, in many different parts of the world. And that has, you know, gone on for a hundred of years, you know, hundreds of years, frankly, Since the existence of, uh, you know, creation of fiat currency, if you will.

AI assessment note: “What else are these currencies? It's supposed to do. Um, you know, one of them is to hold value”

Q If they are successful in their attempts, what does that mean for a Coinbase and for a Kraken? It means limiting your activities. Again, I'm really sorry for the base question.

A You mean if the SEC is successful. So it's, it's really tough to like almost, um, It's almost tough to answer that question because, you know, they won't be successful, right? They've, they've lost an XRP. They've lost the, the grayscale, uh, thing. They, they just kind of continue to not see success with these, um, with these actions. So I don't think they, you know, they, they won't be successful. Um, it's tough to imagine like exactly what it looks like for, you know, a success on their side and what that would even be. I mean, in these particular, in, you know, the claim against Coinbase, claim against Kraken, they've, you know, identified a handful of, of tokens in each particular one. Um, we of course list more than that. Than that handful they've identified. It's tough to, tough to see exactly the, you know, the, the end game that they're, they're, they're headed down, uh, to, for what it's worth.

AI assessment note: “It's almost tough to answer that question because, you know, they won't be successful”

Q If they are successful in their attempts, what does that mean for a Coinbase and for a Kraken? It means limiting your activities. Again, I'm really sorry for the base question.

A You mean if the SEC is successful. So it's, it's really tough to like almost, um, It's almost tough to answer that question because, you know, they won't be successful, right? They've, they've lost an XRP. They've lost the, the grayscale, uh, thing. They, they just kind of continue to not see success with these, um, with these actions. So I don't think they, you know, they, they won't be successful. Um, it's tough to imagine like exactly what it looks like for, you know, a success on their side and what that would even be. I mean, in these particular, in, you know, the claim against Coinbase, claim against Kraken, they've, you know, identified a handful of, of tokens in each particular one. Um, we of course list more than that. Than that handful they've identified. It's tough to, tough to see exactly the, you know, the, the end game that they're, they're, they're headed down, uh, to, for what it's worth.

AI assessment note: “It's almost tough to answer that question because, you know, they won't be successful”