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AI Replaces Humans: Kraken Cuts Staff and Delays IPO Until 2027
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has laid off approximately 150 employees as artificial intelligence takes on a larger role in the company’s operational processes. The decision may also delay Kraken’s planned public market debut.
According to Bloomberg, citing a source familiar with the matter, AI is now being used much more extensively within Kraken than before. However, the company currently does not plan additional rounds of layoffs.
Layoff Wave Spreads Across the Crypto Industry
Kraken is far from the only company reducing staff under the banner of AI-driven optimization.
Since the beginning of 2026, more than 5,000 employees across cryptocurrency companies have lost their jobs.
The largest cuts came in February when Block Inc. laid off approximately 4,000 workers — nearly half of its total workforce.
At the same time, declining digital asset prices since late last year have pressured the financial performance of publicly traded crypto companies. Many firms reported losses during the first quarter.
During the same week Kraken’s layoffs became public, blockchain analytics company Dune announced it would cut 25% of its staff as part of a restructuring effort focused on core products.
On May 5, Coinbase also laid off 700 employees — roughly 14% of its workforce — citing increased AI adoption.
Kraken competitors Gemini and Crypto.com earlier this year reduced their workforces by approximately 200 and 180 employees respectively, pointing to similar reasons.
Kraken’s IPO Is Delayed
Kraken’s plans to go public have shifted multiple times.
Last November, the company confidentially submitted IPO documents to US regulators, but in March it paused the process due to unfavorable crypto market conditions.
According to Bloomberg, Kraken now plans to debut on public markets in 2027.
AI Perspective
What is happening at Kraken is not an isolated case but part of a broader cycle that the technology industry has experienced before.
After the dot-com crash in 2001, companies similarly optimized staffing under the justification of adopting “new technologies,” even though many decisions were fundamentally driven by declining markets and falling revenues.
Today, artificial intelligence serves a similar narrative function: it is both a genuine driver of automation and a convenient explanation for workforce reductions.
There is also a less obvious dimension to Kraken’s delayed IPO. By the end of 2026, the crypto market itself may increasingly be shaped not by human traders but by autonomous AI agents operating their own wallets and trading strategies.
This raises an important question: if Kraken is optimizing its business for today’s operational models, how relevant will those optimizations remain by the time the company finally enters public markets?
See also: "Bithumb Announces Listing of AI-Focused Project Gensyn"
