Kraken announced Tuesday evening that it was hiring for 500 roles at the cryptocurrency exchange in contrast to other crypto firms like Coinbase, which are laying off employees en masse to deal with the market downturn.
However, the positive news was accompanied by a bizarre Twitter thread by Kraken CEO Jesse Powell targeting some employees inside the company for disagreeing with the company culture and calling issues like preferred pronouns and which race can say the N-word "first world problems."
The thread comes as a New York Times expose published Wednesday accused Powell of leading uncomfortable discussions with employees on controversial topics like "if you can identify as a sex, can you identify as a race or ethnicity?" and "who can refer to another person as the N-word." The piece claims this launched a "culture war" in the company amongst employees for and against the CEO's behavior.
In the Twitter thread, Powell blames about 20 people in the company for not being on board with its culture, saying those people were sapping the productivity from others and got "triggered" when he engaged them in debate.
"I entertained debate for a bit because I'm open minded," he wrote on Twitter. "I can be convinced. Team should have input in to policies. Problem is I'm way more studied on the policy topics, people get triggered by everything and can't conform to basic rules of honest debate."
Kraken also laid out its culture in an online document, and it's filled with lines that would make most HR departments bristle.
On its "basic principles of communication" the memo says, "We do not call someone’s words toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic, unhelpful, etc."
The memo also explains that the company hires on merit and does not seek to diversify its staff by race and gender and looks instead for diversity of thought.
"We reject the myopic view that 'diversity' can be captured by a short checklist of obvious physical features," the memo says. "Silicon Valley’s view of diversity in the world is dangerously limited, a commodification of individuals, and a disturbing reflection of profound ignorance. Viewed through a global lens, diversity is infinite. We place an emphasis on equality of opportunity, regardless of background."
The memo is similar, if a bit more contentious, than one issued by Coinbase in 2020, around the time of the George Floyd protest, detailing how the company was a mission-focused company and would not get involved in political issues as many other corporations had been doing at the time.
The types of statements have drawn a clear distinction between crypto companies and other large corporations that have by and large embraced diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and have taken a more active role in supporting social causes.
Kraken formerly had an office on Market Street in San Francisco, but closed it due to crime, homeless and the city's progressive DA Chesa Boudin, according to a statement released by Powell, though the statement misspelled his name and appeared to be tied to efforts to unseat Boudin.
