Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, will pay employees four months’ salary to leave if they disagree with its values, according to the New York Times. In a report Wednesday detailing the company’s internal cultural turmoil, the publication cited interviews with Kraken employees recounting “hurtful” comments about preferred pronouns and derogatory remarks to women, including inflammatory remarks made by Jesse. Powell. Officials also said Powell held a company-wide meeting on June 1 in which he unveiled a program called “Jet Ski” designed to motivate employees to leave if they do not believe in crypto-liberal authorities. of Kraken, the Times reported. A 31-page document known as “Kraken Culture Explained” placed the program as a “re-commitment” to the company’s core values. Employees have until June 20 to participate in the acquisitions, the Times reported. “If you want to leave Kraken, we want you to feel like jumping on a jet ski and go happy on your next adventure!” read a note about the acquisitions, according to the Times. Kraken did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, Kraken executive Christina Yee wrote in Slack to employees that “the CEO, the company and the culture are not going to change in a meaningful way,” urging employees to go “somewhere they do not disgust you,” they said. the Times. Pending the publication of the articles, Powell said on Twitter on Wednesday that “most people do not care and just want to work, but can not be productive, while the people who trigger it continue to drag them into discussions and therapy sessions. The answer for we just had to present the culture document and say: I agree and commit, disagree and commit or take the cash “. “20 of the 3,200 employees” did not agree with the company’s values, Powell said, noting that there were “some heated discussions”. Anti-establishment sentiment is common in cryptocurrencies and other decentralized financial institutions. The industry is given a common ground with some conservative personalities who disapprove of the ideals they have “awakened” in favor of what they consider to be freedom of speech. Powell’s Kraken cultural manifesto includes a section entitled “We do not forbid insult”, stresses the importance of “tolerance for different thinking” and said that “law-abiding citizens should be able to arm themselves”, according to the Times. Powell is not alone in his stance. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk similarly said an “alert virus” was hurting businesses on the streaming giant Netflix, which also shared a cultural note with employees in May. The company told employees to resign if they did not agree with the content it was promoting, such as the program of controversial comedian Dave Chappelle, which provoked reactions of jokes about trans people. Musk retweeted the news with the caption, “Good move from @netflix”.
