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Kraken lays off 30% of staff

blog.kraken.com

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Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#111

Post by quonn »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #29
CommitSyn wrote: post #4

> We’re reducing our global workforce by approximately 1,100 people, or 30 percent, in order to adapt to current market conditions. Why does a crypto exchange need 4,000 employees?

I feel like HN should just auto add a comment that says "Why does need employees?" with a follow up comment that explains how large corporations work. It literally comes up in every single layoff announcement or other discussion of company size in some way, and the follow on comments are essentially the same every single time. I'm not saying that a lot of these companies aren't overstaffed (indeed, that's why they ar…

But why is kraken a large corporation already?

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#112

Post by jjtheblunt »

stuckinhell wrote: post #81
woodruffw wrote: post #18

> Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets. This is an incredible couching of the last 9 months of cryptocurrency market behavior. Does anybody actually operate on their belief that "geopolitical factors," rather than astonishing amounts of fraud , are responsible for the current downturn?

The fraud seems to get political very quickly with FTX. Sam Bankman donated enormous amounts of money to democrats. He was the second biggest donor behind George Soros. He said he also donated an equivalent amount to establishment republicans via dark money channels. Sam Bankman was clearly a smooth political operator.You don't have meeting with Gary Gensler the head of the SEC otherwise.

> He said he also donated an equivalent amount to establishment republicans via dark money channels.

where did you find that? i've not seen it (yet)

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#113

Post by parineum »

whimsicalism wrote: post #39
dylan604 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it that approaching a Hallmark made up consumerism focused holiday supposed to be more terrible to be laid off than any other time ?

You learn new things every day. Personally, I didn't know the Hallmark corporation was present at the Council of Nicaea (c. 325).

I remember when the council of Nicaea blessed the day to honor Santa Claus with lights, a tree and, of course, plentiful gifts for the non-needy.

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#114

Post by bombcar »

jmillikin wrote: post #99
nightski wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Options very well can be down more than 100%. It's a leveraged bet and a very common vehicle in traditional finance. So much so you can buy/sell them on platforms like Robinhood.

A long position in an option can't be down more than 100%. The only commonly traded way to lose more than you started with are futures (not available on most retail platforms) and CFDs (not legal in many markets, including the USA).

Selling an uncovered call in theory (or selling a stock short) opens you to infinite losses - though brokerages are loathe to give you this capability it does exist.

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#116

Post by rich_sasha »

woodruffw wrote: post #18

> Since the start of this year, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors have weighed on financial markets. This is an incredible couching of the last 9 months of cryptocurrency market behavior. Does anybody actually operate on their belief that "geopolitical factors," rather than astonishing amounts of fraud , are responsible for the current downturn?

In fairness, Kraken is regulated and I suspect can't be involved in any of the crypto scams. I'd imagine they really hold deposits as they should etc.

So for them it's the fact that markets are down and people aren't punting crypto, rather than "we took the USD deposits, turned them into shit coins and we're insolvent" kind of thing.

I think.

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#117

Post by ceejayoz »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #112
stuckinhell wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fraud seems to get political very quickly with FTX. Sam Bankman donated enormous amounts of money to democrats. He was the second biggest donor behind George Soros. He said he also donated an equivalent amount to establishment republicans via dark money channels. Sam Bankman was clearly a smooth political operator.You don't have meeting with Gary Gensler the head of the SEC otherwise.

> He said he also donated an equivalent amount to establishment republicans via dark money channels. where did you find that? i've not seen it (yet)

https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/11/29/sam-bankman-fried-poli...

> Sam Bankman-Fried’s donations to Democrats are well documented. In an interview released Tuesday, the former FTX CEO said he similarly funded Republican campaigns—but kept it quiet.

> “All my Republican donations were dark,” SBF told crypto influencer and YouTuber Tiffany Fong, referring to political donations that aren’t publicly disclosed. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.”

His co-CEO also publicly donated millions to Republican causes. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/donor_detail/20....

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#118

Post by programmarchy »

woodruffw wrote: post #47
programmarchy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NASDAQ is also down 30%. Crypto was down before the whole FTX scandal, too, so that doesn't explain everything.

Are you saying that a YoY decline of 30% in the NASDAQ index is comparable to a 30% employee haircut? I don't think that's how it works.

No, by “also” I was referring to cryptocurrency markets not the 30%.

Re: Kraken lays off 30% of staff

#120

Post by danenania »

setgree wrote: post #78
function_seven wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying that when I get arrested for public indecency, my defense should start with "due to tidal forces and the changing orientation of our Moon, my nether region emerged above the water's surface" Or something like that?

My advice is to repeat Warren Buffet's adage -- "only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked" -- and adamantly deny that it has any non-literal meaning whatsoever. Warren was just telling us about something he observed at the beach one time

Swimming naked feels great and is plainly superior to swimming in a bathing suit. If you read between the lines, Buffet was clearly recommending that everyone swim naked and put their full net worth into crypto.
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