'San Francisco Is Not Safe': Crypto Exchange Kraken Closes Offices Over Excessive Crime Rate

Major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken — launched in 2011, when there were just Bitcoin BTC/USD exchanges, not cryptocurrency exchanges — closed its San Francisco offices after numerous incidents led the company's management to deem the city too dangerous for its employees.

What Happened: Kraken CEO Jesse Powell recently retweeted a statement which he signed stating that the firm shut down its global headquarters located on Market Street in San Francisco "after numerous employees were attacked, harassed and robbed on their way to and from the office."

See Also: KRAKEN REVIEW

Powell even said that Kraken's "business partners were afraid to visit after being victimized" and that "crime, mental illness and drug abuse are out of control in the city, which is dramatically underreported because it's so commonplace."

He also criticized what he referred to as "the District Attorney Chesa Boudin's catch-and-release program "which results in the same offenders being arrested dozens of times, leading to "numerous preventable murders of innocent people." 

"San Francisco is not safe and will not be safe until we have a DA who puts the rights of law-abiding citizens above those of the street criminals he so ingloriously protects," Powell concluded.

Update: In a statement following the publication of this story, Kraken said while it had "no plans to change our status as a US-based entity," the location of the headquarters doesn’t affect how it runs its business.

"We have no plans to establish a new, formal global HQ at this time," the cryptocurrency exchange desk said.