In June 2011, Jesse Powell hops a last-minute flight to Tokyo to help what was then the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, MtGox, recover from a hacking attack. Jesse is an industry veteran who recognized the importance of Bitcoin early on, having been a highly successful entrepreneur in the virtual goods industry since 2001. He spends two weeks at the exchange, volunteering his expertise and resources to get the situation under control.

After seeing how poorly MtGox is run, and knowing that the exchange is the most critical part of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Jesse decides to build the first truly professional exchange. Wanting a name that will appropriately convey his hopes for the exchange – intelligent, powerful, agile, robust and secure – Jesse names the exchange after the legendary sea monster. The company to produce the Kraken website is founded on July 28th, 2011 and Kraken is born.