San Francisco Has Deteriorated: Kraken CEO On Leaving The City

San Francisco has deteriorated, as the Kraken CEO Jesse Powell says, being the main reason that he decided to move out of the city and close the exchange’s HQ as well so let’s read more today in our latest cryptocurrency news.

Back in April, Jesse Powell shut down Kraken’s offices in San Francisco. He spoke on a podcast that when New York announced its BitLicnese regulatory framework in 2015, he also decided to pull Kraken out of the state and call the state an abusive “ex you broke up with 3 years ago but they keep stalking you.” Last month, Kraken added another abusive ex to the list – San Francisco. Powell shut down Kraken’s global HQ in the city saying San Francisco has deteriorated and it is now only popular for rampant crimes, drug abuse, and mental illness. He noted:

“I used to live a 12-minute walk from the office in SOMA [South of Market], and every day it was like playing hopscotch over human feces, and used needles, and guys with machetes.”

However, it wasn’t always like that. When he first moved there in 2013, it was quite a different place than it is today. Powell noted it was much safer and cleaner. One of the main problems for Powell was District Attorney Chesa Boudin who was busy with police reform and eliminating cash bail which essentially lead communities to even higher criminality. Powell considered Boudin’s approach responsible for the collapse of San Francisco and Kraken’s exit from the city:

 “His social agenda is that if you are committing crimes, [that’s] because you have been oppressed somehow … somehow you’re poor, you’re an immigrant, whatever that is, and prison is not … a justified response. Unfortunately, you know, prison also is a pretty useful deterrent for crime.”

Many people agree with Powell’s perspective that Boudin is facing a recall election. Powell supported the recall effort while other prominent figures like John Legend backed Boudin. Coinbase also demoted its San Francisco headquarters in February due to the pandemic and the goal of becoming a decentralzied company that has no headquarters. Powell noted that the city will not be safe until we get a District Attorney that will put the rights of law-abiding citizens above those of the street criminals.