By Pranesh Anthapur, Kraken Chief People Officer
Many companies describe themselves as remote. In practice, most still organize work around shared hours, core time blocks or informal hub cities. The office disappears, but the operating system stays the same.
Remote is common. Smart async is not.
At Kraken, the operating system changed. We are not only remote-first. The way we design our work shapes how it moves, how decisions are made and how people experience belonging.
On a typical weekday, a product spec drafted in Portugal gathers structured comments overnight from engineers in Brazil and risk partners in Singapore. When the Krakenite logs back in, they find a document that has evolved through structured comments, with concerns clarified, tradeoffs outlined and a clear decision owner identified, allowing the work to continue without pause.
That rhythm repeats across functions. Compliance reviews, marketing launches, infrastructure upgrades and hiring decisions all move through Slack without unnecessary bureaucracy or heavy processes. Work continues across time zones because it is designed to.
Progress doesn’t clock out
Crypto markets never close, but that does not mean Krakenites need to stay online around the clock. We operate as one global team, so when one Krakenite signs off, a teammate in another region can pick up the work with full context and continue moving it forward.
You see the impact clearly in how we hire. Candidates are not left waiting for a specific office to open. Interviews, feedback and decisions continue to move because someone on the team is always moving the process forward.
Follow-the-sun handoffs (where work passes between teams across time zones so progress never stops) are not new. What differentiates Kraken is that Krakenites can build their careers from virtually anywhere without being tied to a hub city or relocation expectation.
We do not concentrate opportunity in a handful of offices and label it distributed. We hire globally and design the work so location does not limit contribution, visibility or growth. That freedom is not an exception or a perk. It is embedded in how we operate.
Over time, geographic diversity translates into stronger thinking, as different perspectives are surfaced, challenged and refined rather than filtered through a single time zone or point of view.
Remote-first is in our DNA
We are explicit about this model. Remote-first is not a temporary accommodation or a recruiting lever. It is how we operate. Decision-making is not concentrated in a single location or layer of the organization. Krakenites at every level and in every region have real ownership over their work, which means the best thinking can come from anywhere — and it does.
We hire the best person for the role, wherever they live, and design the work so that location does not limit contribution, visibility or growth. A Krakenite in one city carries the same weight in a decision as one in another. Seniority is earned through impact, not proximity to a headquarters.
This approach requires trust. Managers cannot rely on visual cues of activity, and performance is evaluated on output, clarity and follow-through. Leaders are expected to write well, define ownership clearly and make decisions visible. Employees are expected to communicate proactively and close loops. When those expectations are mutual and clear, supervision becomes lighter and accountability becomes stronger.
Connection is designed, not assumed
Connection is not left to text or calls alone. Earlier this year, we brought the entire company together for an all-company in-person gathering. For three days, teams stepped out of their daily cadence and into extended discussions about strategy, product direction and growth priorities. Leaders presented roadmaps, small groups debated tradeoffs across functions, and engineers and customer support specialists compared notes on the friction points they see from different perspectives.
In the evenings, Krakenites who had collaborated virtually met face to face, shared meals, made connections, and closed the day at relaxed team gatherings.
The impact shows up in practical ways afterward. Cross-functional threads move faster because trust has been reinforced. Disagreements feel less personal because people now associate names with real conversations and shared experiences.
We do not gather to re-create an office. We gather to strengthen the system that allows us to operate without one.
A strong remote model balances structured asynchronous work with purposeful in-person connection
This model is intentional, and we are transparent about it.
For candidates, that clarity matters. Some people thrive in environments where thinking is documented, ownership is explicit and independence is expected. Others prefer constant real-time interaction. We design our remote model to support asynchronous work where it is most effective, and we equip teams with the right tools to make it work in practice.
Slack keeps decisions visible, Zoom enables focused real-time discussion, Loom allows quick recorded walkthroughs and AI meeting recaps ensure context is captured and shared. At the same time, we support in-person team sessions and retreats when projects, functions or strategy benefit from being in the same room. That balance helps people decide whether this way of working aligns with how they do their best work.
Remote work fails when it is treated as a compromise layered on top of traditional habits. It succeeds when it is treated as infrastructure.
At Kraken, asynchronous collaboration, global hiring and periodic in-person gatherings are not separate initiatives but parts of one coherent system built on trust, written clarity and respect for time. Work does not stop at the edge of a time zone, and neither does accountability.
That is not a perk. It is how we run Kraken.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kraken or its management.
