ChainCatcher reports that, according to two insiders, cryptocurrency exchange giant Kraken has laid off hundreds of employees across all business areas in the past few months as the company prepares for a public listing in the United States and continues to streamline its operations.It was reported that at the end of October last year, Kraken laid off 400 employees, about 15% of its total workforce, at which time Silicon Valley investor and Kraken board member Arjun Sethi was serving as co-CEO alongside David Ripley. One insider stated that "hundreds of people have left" since Sethi took on the role of co-CEO, noting that in addition to the 15% reduction in staff at the end of last year, the company plans to continue with layoffs.

ChainCatcher news, citing sources familiar with the matter from Bloomberg, reports that Chinese officials are evaluating a possible plan to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to Elon Musk if the app cannot prevent the U.S. ban. Although TikTok's parent company ByteDance prefers to block the ban through appeals, indications from the U.S. Supreme Court suggest that the ban may be upheld.The plan envisions Musk's X (formerly Twitter) taking over TikTok's U.S. operations and integrating it with its existing platform. This move could not only leverage TikTok's 170 million U.S. users to increase advertising revenue but also provide valuable data support for Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI. However, the deal would require approval from the Chinese government, especially concerning the transfer of TikTok's core algorithms.Currently, TikTok's U.S. operations are valued between $40 billion and $50 billion, but it remains unclear whether Musk has sufficient resources to complete the transaction. ByteDance has stated that its primary goal remains to retain TikTok's operations in the U.S. through legal means.