Former Kraken chief executive Jesse Powell says existing crypto regulations in the US have hurt American customers and companies.
In a new interview on the Unchained Podcast, the Kraken co-founder says that offshore crypto exchanges can offer products unavailable to US-based companies, which lures domestic customers away to foreign businesses.
“It basically forces people to go offshore for things that they otherwise would be able to get in the United States. Just take futures trading, for example. It’s not available in the United States. Trading certain tokens which the SEC would probably call securities is not allowed in the United States, and there’s actually no license to be able to do that whatsoever. It’s not just a matter of getting the right license. There’s no license, and so the SEC would say, ‘Yeah, there’s just no way to do this activity, period, in the US.'”
Powell argues that US regulators are driven by “laziness and convenience.” He says Kraken, which is based in San Francisco, consistently asks US regulators why they’re preventing them from offering various products but refusing to go after offshore exchanges offering those same products.
Powell announced he was stepping down from his post as Kraken CEO in September.
