Kraken (legally Payward, Inc.) is a major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2011 in San Francisco by Thanh Luu, Michael Gronager, and Jesse Powell—the latter having been inspired to build a secure alternative after consulting for the hacked Mt. Gox exchange. The platform launched publicly in 2013 and made history in 2020 by becoming the first cryptocurrency company to obtain a U.S. bank charter, specifically a special-purpose depository institution (SPDI) charter in Wyoming. Over the years, it expanded through acquisitions (including Coinsetter, Cavirtex, and Crypto Facilities) and grew to over 6 million clients by 2021, becoming a "unicorn" with a $20 billion valuation. In April 2023, Dave Ripley replaced Jesse Powell as CEO, and by 2025 the exchange reported $207 billion in quarterly trading volume, ranking as the world's 14th-largest crypto exchange. That same year, it began offering trading of tokenized equities to non-U.S. customers, alongside its existing services in stocks, futures, and ETFs for most American states. Despite its global success, Kraken has faced operational challenges abroad, closing its Japanese services twice (in 2018 and 2023) due to rising costs and market conditions.