Thanh Luu
Thanh Luu is a technologist and cryptocurrency entrepreneur best known as a co-founder of Kraken, one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges. He co-founded the exchange in 2011 alongside Jesse Powell and Michael Gronager and has been associated with its technical development in infrastructure, security, and compliance.[1]
Early Life and Education
Thanh Luu was born in 1985 in Hanoi, Vietnam.[1] He studied computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, the academic foundation for the engineering and infrastructure work that would define his later career in the cryptocurrency industry.[1]
Career
Kraken
Luu co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in 2011 with Jesse Powell and Michael Gronager, placing him among the founders of one of the first generation of digital-asset trading platforms.[1] Within the company, his work has been associated with technical expertise and a focus on infrastructure, security, and compliance — the systems that allow an exchange to hold customer funds and operate under regulatory obligations.[1] The KuCoin profile credits his contributions with helping establish Kraken as a benchmark in the cryptocurrency industry for security, transparency, and a stated commitment to financial freedom, and describes him as maintaining a low-key presence while continuing to influence the direction of decentralized finance through Kraken's strategy.[1]
Circuit
Luu is the chief technology officer of Circuit, a company described as building the foundations for "agent finance" — financial infrastructure oriented toward autonomous software agents. According to the August 2025 X post announcing the role, he moved into the position as Kraken was preparing for an IPO, applying the infrastructure experience developed at the exchange to the new venture.[3]
