Share this article
FBI Drops Criminal Probe Into Kraken Founder Jesse Powell
Jesse Powell is no longer under investigation for alleged hacking tied to a nonprofit he co-founded.
Updated Jul 23, 2025, 2:50 p.m. Published Jul 22, 2025, 7:21 p.m.
What to know:
- The FBI has ended its probe into Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell.
- Powell had been under investigation for allegedly hacking a nonprofit’s data.
Federal authorities have dropped a criminal investigation into Jesse Powell, co-founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
The FBI investigation, which began in 2023, was looking into the non-profit Verge Center for the Arts' allegations that Powell hacked its computer accounts and obstructed access to emails. His home was also searched when the investigation began and computers, laptops and cellphones were seized at the time, the New York Times reported last year.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
In April this year, federal prosecutors informed Powell's attorney Brandon Fox that the government had concluded its investigation into the Verge allegations and it was not bringing criminal charges against Powell, documents filed to the Superior Court of the State of California on Monday showed. Prosecutors also said at the time they would return the devices they had seized from Powell's home, Fox said.
On June 9, his lawyer later received a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California confirming that the federal government had closed this investigation on April 8 this year. Fox initially asked for this letter to be sent to Powell.
“The FBI's raid on my house was devastating both personally and professionally. It is still shocking that the raid was premised on Verge Center for the Art’s baseless accusations against me," Powell said in a statement.
"I will continue to pursue the appropriate legal remedies against those who created this disaster by making false statements to law enforcement,” he added.
The closure of the case comes as Kraken weighs the possibility of an initial public offering by the first quarter of 2026. Powell stepped down as the exchange's CEO in 2023 according to his LinkedIn, but remains on its board of directors.
Kraken remains one of the largest U.S.-based crypto exchanges and has been the target of increased regulatory scrutiny in recent years. In 2023, it settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission and shut its U.S. staking services.
UPDATE (July 23, 14:50 UTC): Removes duplicated paragraph.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
What to know:
- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
Top Stories
