Kraken, a nearly $3 billion cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has moved its headquarters to Cheyenne, Wyoming, after the company left California nearly three years ago.
The company is valued at $2.9 billion with a secondary valuation, which is a measure of total stocks being traded, of $5.9 billion, according to a financial profile by Trueup, a tech job board that rates all the top tech companies.
Former state representative Tyler Lindholm, who was among the architects of Wyoming’s digital asset framework, told Cowboy State Daily he believes Kraken is now the largest company with a headquarters in Wyoming.
“That’s a big deal,” he said. “That’s bigger than any and all mining.”
Lindholm is very familiar with the company, and told Cowboy State Daily his sense of the move is that the company is looking for an environment that will be safer for its employees, where it can also unleash growth as the company prepares to go public in 2026.
“That is why this company chose Wyoming,” he said. “Because they’re looking for that next opportunity to be able to really unleash themselves and explore opportunities. And it comes down to, not the fact that Wyoming is a deregulated space or anything like that. It comes down to the fact there’s more (digital) consumer protections in the state of Wyoming than any other state in the nation.”
‘Regulatory Clarity’
Trevor Rutar, CEO of Kraken Financial, told Cowboy State Daily the company picked Wyoming because of its commitment to individual liberty, regulatory clarity and innovation.
“The state shares crypto’s values — autonomy, freedom of thought, and economic choice — and has shown real leadership in embracing new technologies,” Rutar told Cowboy State Daily in an email. “States are the laboratories of democracy, and Wyoming has proven how quickly and effectively they can lead. Crypto, like capital, flows to where it’s treated best — and Wyoming is earning that reputation.”
Rutar said Wyoming’s efforts to release a stable token weren’t a factor in the decision to relocate, other than from the standpoint it represented Wyoming’s willingness to think outside the box.
“We admire that Wyoming continues to explore innovative approaches in finance and technology,” he said. “It reflects the state’s broader willingness to lead and experiment in shaping the future of digital assets.”
The beauty of Wyoming isn’t lost on the company’s decision makers either, though, Rutar added.
“I see it every time I bring someone here,” he said. “They’re struck by the wind (sometimes literally), the wide-open beauty, the warm, easygoing nature of people.
“The Cowboy Code — integrity, hard work, and independence, — goes beyond borders and defines the spirit of the state,” he continued. “Wyoming may be small in size, but it consistently punches above its weight in the crypto world. Its early embrace of digital assets and bold regulatory leadership show that it’s a place where innovation thrives and freedom to build is more than just an idea — it’s a way of life.”
Crypto-Friendly Environment
Wyoming’s regulatory environment is one of the first things Kraken mentioned in a blog post announcing its decision to move to Wyoming.
Since 2016, Wyoming has passed more than 40 laws in the digital asset space in a bid to create a regulatory framework that allows cryptocurrency and other digital asset companies to innovate and includes strong consumer protection.
Those laws included the Special Purpose Depository Institutions, often pronounced “speedy” banks for the acronym SPDI, which can hold digital assets for customers the way banks hold money for their customers, as well as conduct other banking activities.
Kraken was Wyoming’s first SPDI, though, like Caitlin Long’s Custodia Bank, which is also an SPDI, it has yet to receive a master account from the Federal Reserve. A master account is a bank account for banks, which allows them to access Federal Reserve services.
That’s despite Wyoming holding more than 100 meetings with the Kansas City Federal Reserve to iron out a framework pleasing to regulators.
Long brought Kraken to Wyoming in 2018 for a visit, hoping to eventually attract them to Wyoming.
“They’ve had a presence here since 2020, maybe even earlier than that,” Long said. “They’ve been here the whole time, investing in the community. They’ve been a sponsor of Cheyenne Frontier Days, and they have obviously continued to support the University of Wyoming Blockchain Center and WyoHackathon.”
Long said she doesn’t know what exactly prompted the decision, but said they’ve been a great corporate citizen so far.
“I was hoping they’d make the final decision to get out of California and come here,” Long said. “And I’m really excited they’ve made the decision to do this. It’s great.”
Powell, Long noted, was one of the early, very public donors to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“With the SEC going after them, they got caught up in a different way than we did in the whole Biden administration attempt to kill this industry,” Long said. “And they were taking on the SEC while we were taking on the Fed. All of the companies in the industry have been kind of doing the work with each other, trying to fix the regulations, and every one of us was being sued, or in a position where we had to sue, because it was an all-of-government attempt to kill the industry.”
Framework Building
Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily efforts to craft Wyoming’s digital asset framework will continue.
He sees it as an effort to make Wyoming one of the most business-friendly places in the nation for digital asset companies to do business.
“Even like our delegation in the Senate with Cynthia Lummis, she is also backing just the idea that we should be free to have a well-maintained system of trade with digital assets,” he said. “And her help is huge and it kind of sheds light on the idea that here in Wyoming we are both innovative and industrial.”
That’s been true for decades, Singh added, and that pioneering spirit not only continues to this day but it’s attracting the world to Wyoming.
“There’s a lot of room for new ideas,” he said. “And thankfully we’re working with partners from really all across the world to try to build the best system. Europe, the Middle East, those folks will come to Wyoming and testify to us, and then we’re able to connect with them and meet with them and hear what’s going on in Europe, for example. We just talked to some folks from Gibraltar who were talking to us about how they want to leave Europe and relocate to somewhere that’s more business friendly, and they’re looking at Wyoming.”
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory on the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula near the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
Singh said they’ve been impressed so far that Wyoming’s framework isn’t following the latest buzzword but is really diving deep to understand this emerging sector, and craft something that will make sense for those who want to play in the space in a law-abiding way.
Singh said he believes Wyoming’s accessibility is probably what primarily attracted Kraken and may well attract others.
“Our government is really accessible,” he said. “Being in a smaller state allows for, if there are insights from the industry, to be able to help guide the policy makers as we correct the ship. This is an innovative process and we’re ahead of the game.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
