Kraken CEO ignores Bitcoin drop as tokenized stock volume hits $10 billion

Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi was unfazed by Bitcoin’s drop below $100,000, saying short-term price fluctuations are less important than the asset’s long-term trajectory. In a recent conversation on Yahoo Finance, Sethi shared his views on crypto volatility and the strategic direction of exchanges.

“Like any asset, the more it goes up, the more speculation there is about it. When it goes down, there tends to be a little bit more negative news. But that’s true of any asset class,” Sethi said. He noted that Kraken operates across multiple jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, the US, the UK, and Greater Europe, and provides access to over 400 crypto-related assets, as well as US stocks and ETFs.

Past patterns support optimism

Sethi pointed to Bitcoin’s historical price movement as support for his outlook. “If you look at the overall slope of Bitcoin from $6,000 to $15,000, back to $25,000, $8,000 back to $50,000, back to $16,000, and back to $80,000, there are these curves that are constantly changing across all asset classes,” he explained.

The co-CEOs emphasized that it is more important to understand the logic behind buying Bitcoin or Ethereum than reacting to daily price movements. For many international users, cryptocurrencies provide access to secure assets, especially in regions where local stock markets are restricted or inaccessible.

“Bitcoin, Ethereum, Alternatives, Solana, etc., over time, they become kind of synonymous with safety,” Sethi said. He added that next steps include U.S. Treasuries through stablecoins and tokenized stocks, which are key drivers for Kraken and other platforms.

Kraken’s tokenized stock product, called Xstocks, has become one of the fastest growing products on the platform. The product is available worldwide except the US and provides access to traditional stocks through blockchain rails. “We just crossed $10 billion in transaction volume on our tokenless, permissionless platform,” Sethi revealed.

Regulatory framework creates opportunities

The product runs on the Solana and Ethereum blockchains and can be accessed through multiple wallets and decentralized exchanges. Sethi described this as avoiding a “walled garden” approach where users have to stay within a single ecosystem.

Regarding US regulation, Sethi mentioned the recent passage of the GENIUS Act, which legalizes 1:1 backed government bond yields into stablecoins. He expects the Transparency Act passed by the House of Representatives to define how financial instruments can flow into the United States through exchanges.

“If that happens, there will be a flood of innovation, a flood of capital, a flood of products that can actually start innovating,” Sethi predicted. He stressed that consumer protection and trust remain paramount even as the regulatory framework evolves.

Related: https://coinedition.com/microstrategys-history-outperformance-reverses-as-mstr-trails-bitcoin-in-2025/