[2016-09-19] Beyond Mt. Gox: Feature Interview with Christina Yee of Kraken

"Christina Yee is one of the bright, young names in the cryptocurrency space. As Chief Brand Officer of Kraken, one of the world’s largest global bitcoin exchanges in terms of volume and liquidity, she plays a key, strategic role in furthering the company’s stellar reputation and commitment to clients.
Kraken has an extensive, growing client base of traders in US dollars, Euros, Canadian dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen and digital currencies like ether, all on an exchange that is widely reputed to be one of the best and most secure in the industry. Founded in 2011, Kraken has the distinction of being the first bitcoin exchange to go live with market data on Bloomberg Terminal, the first to complete a proof of reserves audit, a partner with the first cryptocurrency bank, and one of the first exchanges to enter into the realm of bitcoin margin trading.
Kraken’s crowning moment, however, took place in 2014 when it was selected to aid in the investigation and liquidation of Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, following the latter’s highly publicized demise. Kraken’s primary role has been to assist Mt Gox creditors in filing claims, identifying missing bitcoins and reconciling assets.
In an exclusive interview with BTCManager, Christina Lee offers a fascinating look at the circuitous path that landed her at Kraken as well as the company’s strategic evolution amid ongoing efforts to put closure on the Mt Gox case.

Christina, you began your career journey as a poker player before working in the advertising world. Tell us a little about this.
During college, I studied marketing and psychology and also became a professional poker player online. After graduating, because I was making such good money at poker, I decided to do it full-time and ended up moving to Las Vegas to play cash games at the casino. It was fun working for myself, being competitive and meeting new people. I found the experience invaluable when it comes to reading the body language of individuals, doing quick calculations and exploring Game Theory.
At the same time, there were aspects of teamwork and community found in a typical work environment that I missed. So I moved to San Francisco and went to work for an advertising agency that had a number of big technology companies as clients. As a strategist, I would meet with product teams and assess why they were falling short of the results they wanted to achieve. I’d then develop strategies to address this.

So how did all of this lead you to Kraken?
Great question [laughter]. After three years in the advertising world, I decided that it was time for a new challenge, something new and more exciting. Jesse (CEO of Kraken) and I had met at a networking event where we traded contact information. Bitcoin was already in my awareness as a result of a client debriefing from my advertising work. I found myself intrigued and did some deeper reading on it.
It was not long after that I talked with Jesse about my career exploration. He responded by saying, “with everything that you’ve done in advertising space, we don’t have anyone on our team that’s doing any of that. So it would be a great fit if you were to come to Kraken.” I interviewed with Jesse, the CFO at the time, and the team, and have been working non-stop since. "