Kraken Review 2025: Is Kraken The Best Exchange?

Kraken is a top-notch, US-based crypto trade that has expanded in recognition and consumer base and now enjoys bodily places worldwide. Kraken trade has held the #4 place as the most important trade by buying and selling quantity for a number of years and is taken into account one of many main 5 exchanges by consumer base and recognition. As one of many high exchanges on this planet, we on the Coin Bureau felt it was time to offer our group with a assessment.

The Kraken trade gives a unbelievable different to Coinbase for crypto buyers and merchants on the lookout for a strong US-based crypto trade that gives greater than merely shopping for, promoting and swapping belongings. This assessment offers you a deep dive into all of the nooks and crannies of the platform that will help you determine if the Kraken trade is appropriate for you.

Our Verdict On Kraken Change

Kraken is a extremely reliable and reliable trade. They’re typically ranked #1 when it comes to each safety and customer support by unbiased auditors, in addition to from my private findings. The charges are cheap, and Kraken is a good Coinbase different that has turn out to be common with Futures merchants and affords extra sturdy buying and selling performance.

Disclaimer: I’ve used Kraken Change as a part of my private crypto buying and selling technique.

Strive Kraken Immediately!

Kraken Abstract

Overview: What’s Kraken

The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of huge proportions that’s stated to hunt sailors off the coast of Norway. The terrifying big squid creature has been the topic of sailors’ superstitions and myths relationship again to the 1180s when the King Sverre of Norway first wrote about it.

What does a large sea creature need to do with crypto?

Actually, I don’t know. Perhaps the founder actually likes calamari, which segues me to the necessary stuff.

Kraken (the trade, not the squid) The crypto trade was based in 2011 by former CEO Jesse Powell in San Francisco, USA. Jesse Powell is a veteran within the crypto house and is nicely revered for serving to drive the crypto {industry} ahead, above and past the scope of the straightforward Kraken trade. Apparently, earlier than Kraken, he labored as a safety guide for Mt. Gox. Powell anticipated the Mt. Gox collapse and determined to begin up a extra sustainable and sturdy crypto trade and launched the Kraken… Oh, come on, you knew the joke was coming 😒

Kraken has turn out to be probably the most well-established and extremely revered crypto exchanges within the {industry}. They noticed a lot success within the early days that in 2014, Kraken obtained a $5 million Sequence A funding funding. A month after that, the platform turned one among solely two exchanges to be listed on Bloomberg Terminal; then, in 2015, they opened the primary darkish pool for Bitcoin, leading to Kraken changing into an appropriate place for institutional buyers to commerce Bitcoin on the Kraken buying and selling platform.

Based on Crunchbase, the corporate has raised $136 million in funding over 32 rounds and is backed by 33 buyers, together with among the greatest names within the house. They’re presently valued at a whopping$10 billion; there is no such thing as a scarcity of funding or capital right here.

So, it’s secure to say that Kraken is well-funded, well-trusted, and well-respected, which is an effective begin, however as a substitute of counting on popularity, let's have a look at the legalities. In crypto, we regularly say, “don't trust, verify.” 

Luckily, from a authorized standpoint, Kraken is a stickler for licensing and rules. They adjust to authorized and regulatory necessities in all of the jurisdictions the place they function and maintain the next registrations:

• FinCEN within the USA as a Cash Companies Enterprise
• FINTRAC in Canada as a Cash Companies Enterprise
• FCA regulated within the UK for CryptoFacilities LTD, which is a Kraken service
• AUSTRAC in Australia as a Digital Foreign money Change
• FSA in Japan for Payward Asia, Ok.Ok, registered as a Crypto Asset Change Operator.

You’ll be able to be taught extra about their licenses, registrations, and its manufacturers and companions on their About Kraken Help Web page.

As one of many world's largest and oldest crypto exchanges, Kraken is likely one of the most safe and beginner-friendly locations to purchase, promote, and commerce crypto. Proper from the horse's mouth, that is Kraken's mission:

“Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency so that you and the rest of the world can achieve financial freedom and inclusion.”

Sounds nice. They’re making nice strides within the "rest of the world" space as they’ve unbelievable fiat foreign money/nation assist and a number of withdrawal and deposit strategies relying on the jurisdiction, which we are going to cowl later. Kraken is out there in most international locations globally with the exclusion of sanctioned international locations and:

• Afghanistan
• Cuba
• Guinea-Bissau
• Iran
• Iraq
• North Korea
• Tajikistan
• New York and Washington states

Kraken has bodily places in San Francisco (USA), Halifax (Canada), London (UK), Tokyo (Japan), Sydney (Australia), and the British Virgin Islands.

If you wish to see how Kraken stacks up in opposition to different crypto exchanges, be at liberty to take a look at our Prime Exchanges article the place we break down the perfect exchanges in numerous classes that will help you discover the best one to suit your wants.

If you need Man's take, right here's a Kraken Newbie's Information he has put collectively:

Kraken Change Key Options:

Now we are going to cowl the primary options of the Kraken buying and selling trade. Kraken is out there as an internet platform and cellular app for IOS and Android. Kraken additionally affords Kraken Professional included on the location, a complicated platform for superior merchants. We’ll cowl the trade itself later within the platform design and value part; for this subsequent half, we are going to have a look at the important thing options other than the trade.

Staking

Like most good exchanges, Kraken has a bit the place customers can stake common Proof-of-Stake crypto belongings and earn as much as 23% in staking rewards.

Kraken staking permits customers to earn engaging APYs simply with only a few clicks of a button in a versatile method for 13 totally different crypto belongings, USD and EUR.

Schooling

I’m an enormous fan of any platform that goes out of its means to offer in-depth crypto training, and Kraken will get an enormous thumbs up from me on this entrance. Clearly, the Coin Bureau shares an analogous ardour for crypto training as we perceive that training is the important thing to adoption, and crypto generally is a heck of a complicated jungle to navigate for these first getting concerned.

The standard monetary and training techniques have let the common individual down with a scarcity of training, transparency, and understanding surrounding funds, which is likely one of the causes most individuals are drowning in debt and dwelling paycheck to paycheck.

With crypto, now we have a recent begin, an opportunity to vary that. Because of firms like Binance with the Binance Academy, Kraken with Kraken Study, and firms akin to ourselves, now we have a chance to choose up and construct upon the place conventional finance failed us and did society an enormous injustice.

The Kraken Study part is filled with all the pieces customers have to navigate the wacky world of crypto. The articles, movies, and guides usually are not solely particular to Kraken however may help out whatever the crypto path that an individual chooses to stroll.

In addition they have unbelievable interviews and panel discussions on the Kraken Weblog; it is a superb useful resource for all the pieces crypto. I signed as much as their mailing checklist as they periodically ship out insanely in-depth analysis and market analytics on the state of crypto.

Kraken App

Just like how Coinbase and Crypto.com have two apps, one for day-to-day crypto use and shopping for, promoting, and hodling, and a second app for superior buying and selling, Kraken additionally has two apps:

• Kraken
• Kraken Professional

I don’t know who claimed the names first however come on, guys, Coinbase and Coinbase Professional, FTX and FTX Professional, Kraken and Kraken Professional… How unique. Of all of the phrases within the English language that they may have used, all of them went with Professional.

Lack of naming originality apart, the Kraken cellular app is a superbly designed and unbelievable app that makes utilizing it an absolute breeze and a deal with. Aesthetically and performance talking, they nailed the UI/UX of the platform.

First, let’s check out the Kraken App:

The app is strong for purchasing, promoting, changing, monitoring, and managing your crypto and has over 1M+ downloads. The Kraken app has a unbelievable score of 4.3 out of 5 on Google, and 4.7 out of 5 on the App Retailer, so yeah, it’s an ideal app. Listed here are among the highlights:

• Simply purchase and promote over 120 crypto belongings
• Low charges for purchase/promote orders
• Correct worth monitoring, so customers know the worth earlier than they purchase/promote
• 24/7 assist
• A number of cost choices for crypto
• Viewable transaction historical past
• Graphic displaying crypto allocation and stability
• Overview the worth of every funding and its % of your portfolio
• Asset overview options, worth, quantity, charts, and different particulars
• Abstract of the undertaking behind every crypto asset

And most significantly, it’s safe. In case your cellular is misplaced, Kraken assist can revoke entry remotely. As well as, there’s password and biometric safety, and customers can entry a listing of gadgets which have entry to the account. We’ll cowl safety afterward within the Kraken Safety part.

Kraken Professional

Kraken Professional is a complicated buying and selling platform that’s out there on the Kraken platform in addition to a separate cellular app. It’s designed for merchants who want entry to superior buying and selling options and performance, with the corresponding app appropriate for buying and selling on the go. Kraken Professional options decrease charges than the usual Kraken platform and gives an interface for superior buying and selling, charting, and order varieties not out there on the usual platform.

Now, in my assessment article for Coinbase Professional, I point out why right here on the Coin Bureau, we don’t usually suggest the usage of cellular buying and selling apps as a major instrument for buying and selling as buying and selling is a severe profession and requires a variety of multitasking that can not be performed simply on a cellular, I like to recommend you try the Coinbase assessment the place I cowl the explanation why in additional element. There’s a motive you don’t see skilled merchants buying and selling from a cellular machine whereas ready in line for a Huge Mac.

That apart, the Kraken Professional app is pretty much as good as any of the highest cellular buying and selling apps and may be very helpful for monitoring open trades or making slight changes on the go. And even within the uncommon occasion one thing huge occurs if you are out having fun with that Huge Mac, and it’s essential make a fast commerce to reap the benefits of breaking information.

Let’s have a look at among the highlights for Kraken Professional:

• On-the-go deposits, withdrawals and buying and selling
• Low charges
• Crypto staking
• Excessive safety
• Over 115 crypto belongings out there to commerce over 400 markets
• 24/7 buyer assist
• Low buying and selling charge
• Superior cryptocurrency buying and selling instruments with an easy-to-use interface
• Quick order execution and real-time worth updates
• A number of charting and order ebook show choices
• Viewable commerce historical past
• Margin commerce as much as 5x
• Superior order varieties and conditional shut parameters

👉 Signal-Up and get entry to Kraken Professional! 

The Kraken Professional app additionally has fairly strong evaluations with a 3.8 out of 5 on Google Play and 4.5 out of 5 on the Apple App retailer.

Whereas the vast majority of evaluations are constructive, there was one constant difficulty that prompted lots of the low rankings: the app being very sluggish and laggy for some Android customers. Although many constructive evaluations didn’t report this, it solely appears to have an effect on sure customers.

Kraken Professional customers can join their common Kraken account utilizing the identical username and password for each platforms, or the accounts will be linked utilizing an API key.

Professional Tip: By no means seek for crypto apps instantly in an app retailer as a consequence of a number of pretend app obtain hyperlinks from scammers practically indistinguishable from the true app. At all times hit the obtain or redirect hyperlink instantly from the corporate web site.

Kraken NFT Market

Following go well with with different main cryptocurrency exchanges, Kraken will probably be launching an NFT market within the close to future.

The Kraken NFT market will supply a zero-gas charge platform for NFTs custodied with Kraken. There will probably be no blockchain community charges for buying and selling exercise on the platform, although transfers off the platform will include a community charge.

The platform will present a rarity tracker, pay with money choice, will assist a number of blockchains, and NFT creators will probably be rewarded with earnings from every resale of an NFT. Ethereum and Solana are the one two introduced networks supported to date, however the group mentions including extra blockchain assist sooner or later.

Polkadot and Kusama Parachain Auctions

Kraken is likely one of the few exchanges to assist DOT and KSM parachain auctions, and I believe this function is superb, an enormous driver attracting followers of the Polkadot ecosystem. Polkadot is an thrilling undertaking with enormous potential, however it’s fairly complicated and complicated to navigate, leaving many crypto customers at a loss with no thought how you can become involved with the DOT and KSM public sale course of.

Kraken has discovered a strategy to simplify the method for platform customers, permitting them to take part in parachain slot auctions with out the technical know-how wanted to navigate the complicated Polkadot DeFi atmosphere.

In case you are simply listening to about Polkadot parachain auctions for the primary time, or need to be taught extra, try Man’s Final 101 Information to Polkadot Auctions: 

To take part in parachain auctions on Kraken, customers should confirm their account to intermediate stage or increased. As soon as that’s performed, customers can navigate to the Earn part and deposit their DOT or KSM into the public sale for the undertaking they wish to assist.

DOT or KSM bonded to the public sale will probably be locked during the public sale and will probably be returned to the consumer after the public sale interval has ended, together with the rewards if the undertaking wins the public sale and is accepted right into a parachain slot.

The charges to concerned to become involved with parachain auctions are as follows:

• 5% charge on the undertaking’s token reward that Kraken claims on a consumer’s behalf for Polkadot initiatives.
• Contributions to a single undertaking exceeding 1000 DOT will probably be topic to a 2% charge on the undertaking’s token reward that Kraken claims on a consumer’s behalf for Polkadot initiatives.
• Contributions to a single parachain undertaking exceeding 100 KSM will probably be topic to a 2% charge on the undertaking’s token rewards that Kraken claims on a consumer’s behalf.

The advantages from the consumer perspective for collaborating by Kraken versus the DIY technique are as follows:

• Rapidly unstake DOT or KSM to take part in an public sale.
• Buy DOT or KSM and take part inside seconds.
• Be protected with Kraken’s state-of-the-art safety protocols.
• Fund, commerce, stake, and take part in parachain auctions inside a single interface.
• Newbie and user-friendly interface and course of

Kraken Margin Buying and selling

One of many greatest attractors for these on the lookout for a strong US-based and controlled trade is that Kraken permits for 1X to 5X leverage, which Coinbase needed to stop providing.

Be aware that Kraken is unable to supply margin buying and selling for residents of america and Japan. Intermediate and Professional stage accounts exterior america and Japan are supported in most jurisdictions.

Kraken affords margin buying and selling for over 100 pairs, with the leverage relying on the pair:

We’ll dive deeper into particular buying and selling options afterward on this assessment. A full checklist of the out there pairs and leverage limits will be discovered on the Kraken Margin Buying and selling Web page.

Kraken Futures Buying and selling

Kraken affords futures buying and selling on the platform, and in contrast to margin buying and selling, futures buying and selling will be performed with as much as 50X leverage on sure pairs.

Futures are totally different from conventional margin devices in that they’re primarily based on the asset's worth at some future time. These future occasions are referred to as the "expiry times", and so they permit market members to hedge market danger or take a future view on the asset's worth.

The next Futures contracts can be found:

Kraken Futures buying and selling is barely eligible for customers in sure jurisdictions. It’s not out there for these residing within the US, Japan, some European international locations, or UK and AU shoppers who’re categorized as retail. A full checklist will be discovered on the Kraken Futures Eligibility Web page.

Futures buying and selling will be accessed from a consumer’s most important display by clicking the 4 squares on the highest proper and choosing “Futures Trading” or by logging instantly into the Futures buying and selling platform:

Upon getting accessed the Kraken Futures Buying and selling platform you’ll be taken to the futures buying and selling platform display, which appears to be like like this:

The futures platform is nicely laid out and affords nice performance. Right here merchants can change between numerous foreign money pairs and markets, and there are alternatives to change expiry occasions, modify contract specifics, see the order type, view the order books, and see a market depth chart to offer merchants with futures buying and selling sentiment.

The charting display is powered by TradingView, permitting for a massively wealthy smorgasbord of options and instruments, greater than sufficient to go well with any model of dealer.

Warning ⚠️: Buying and selling futures with excessive leverage is dangerous and greatest suited to skilled merchants. Guarantee you will have ample stops in place and perceive the distinction between spot and futures buying and selling.

Kraken Charges

Charges are a big figuring out issue when deciding which crypto trade is best for you, particularly if you’ll be buying and selling incessantly or massive quantities; the distinction between a p.c or two can actually add up.

To their credit score, Kraken charges are fairly aggressive and refreshingly clear. No hidden or "surprise" charges right here. Kraken charge for Maker and Taker fall in the direction of the cheaper finish of the charge scale, having decrease charges than Coinbase however a bit of increased than OKX, KuCoin, or Binance.

Professional Tip: Contemplate funding through your checking account and attempt to keep away from buying crypto with a card or utilizing the "Instant Buy" function as Kraken has some steep charges for card purchases and utilizing the On the spot Purchase function. Extra on that in a second.

Many Kraken customers who incessantly benefit from the trade really feel the charges are nicely price utilizing a well-respected, extremely safe, regulated US-based trade that has been battle-tested since 2011. In contrast to most of its opponents, Kraken has a spotless safety report as one of many few exchanges to by no means fall sufferer to a profitable hack.

So far as charges are involved, customers on Kraken can count on the next:

• For the On the spot Purchase function, digital pockets and card purchases will include a 3.75% + $0.25 charge or a 0.5% charge for on-line banking/ACH purchases. Kraken's buying companions cost these charges.
• Crypto deposits are free for many crypto belongings.
• Crypto withdrawals have a variable charge construction relying on the asset.
• An extra 1.5% charge per transaction for stablecoin purchases, or 0.9% for purchases with USD for the On the spot Purchase choice is tacked on by Kraken.

Fiat deposits range relying on foreign money and technique used however vary between:

• USD- $0 to $10
• EUR- €0 to €3
• CAD- $0 to 1.5% or $3
• AUD- $0
• GBP- £0 to £21
• CHF- 0 Fr.to 0.75 Fr.
• JPY- ¥0

Detailed info will be discovered on the Kraken Deposit Charges Web page.

Fiat withdrawals range relying on foreign money and technique used however vary between

• USD- $0 to $35
• EUR- €0.09 to €35 (1 EUR for SEPA)
• CAD- $0 to $35 or 0.25%
• AUD- $0 to $35
• GBP- £1.95 to £35
• CHF- 1 Fr. to 35 Fr.
• JPY- 35 USD equal in JPY or ¥250

The fee-free or low-fee choices seen above are usually for customers who reside in a rustic and are transacting regionally of their nationwide foreign money. The upper charges are primarily related to worldwide customers transacting in a distinct nation's foreign money. Detailed info will be discovered on the Kraken Withdrawals Charges Web page.

For Kraken buying and selling charges, the buying and selling charge depends on 30-day buying and selling quantity. Right here is a picture displaying the Maker and Taker charge breakdown on Kraken Professional:

For customers thinking about buying and selling stablecoins, pegged tokens, and foreign exchange pairs, listed below are the charges you possibly can count on:

Kraken merchants who go for margin buying and selling can have a further opening charge, and rollover charge tacked on, that are variable relying on the asset. These charges will be discovered on the Kraken Buying and selling Charges Web page.

As for our Futures merchants, that is an space the place Kraken matches price management when it comes to industry-low charges. Listed here are the Maker and Taker charges related to Futures buying and selling:

For NFTs, Kraken expenses a 2% transaction charge, $0 for itemizing, 0.01 ETH for withdrawals on Ethereum and 0.02 SOL for withdrawals on Solana.

KYC and Account Verification

As a result of Kraken is very regulated and performs pleasant with the authorities, you already know they’ve KYC/AML and verification necessities popping out the wazoo.

To get began with crypto buying and selling, customers can get going with simply their electronic mail, full title, DOB, telephone quantity and bodily tackle. It will permit for restricted performance on the platform. Nevertheless, for something above that, they’ll need DNA samples and the rights to your firstborn baby… Simply kidding, however they do ask for some hefty data. Here’s a have a look at the necessities to achieve totally different verification ranges:

And as a substitute of me writing out all the pieces you are able to do at every stage, Kraken has this useful chart displaying what’s concerned so you possibly can determine if the additional KYC is critical to your wants:

Kraken’s KYC and account verification course of is on par with different exchanges and {industry} requirements. There was a time when exchanges might play quick and free with KYC necessities, however these days are over, sadly.

The one main trade holding out and permitting for KYC free buying and selling (in a really restricted capability) is KuCoin, which is attracting merchants who don’t have to commerce a lot and need to keep away from KYC. You’ll be able to be taught extra about them in our KuCoin Overview. Bybit is one other good selection for merchants who need to skip KYC.

Kraken Pockets

As self-custody turns into a cornerstone of crypto greatest practices, Kraken has taken a big step by launching Kraken Pockets — a non-custodial, open-source cellular pockets designed to present customers full management over their belongings.

Out there on each iOS and Android, Kraken Pockets isn’t simply an adjunct to the trade. It’s a standalone product that helps multi-chain entry (together with Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, and Layer-2s), DeFi connectivity through WalletConnect, NFT storage, and cross-chain token swaps — all with out requiring a Kraken account.

Safety is central to its design. The pockets enforces industry-standard 12- or 24-word Secret Restoration Phrases, affords biometric authentication, and ensures customers’ information stays non-public, with no monitoring or analytics baked into the app. For added flexibility, Kraken Join permits seamless, safe transfers between the Kraken trade and the pockets.

Should you'd prefer to know extra, learn our full Kraken Pockets assessment.

Kraken Safety

If somebody requested me for my opinion on essentially the most safe cryptocurrency trade, I must say Kraken. The explanation? Out of the highest 5 greatest exchanges, Kraken is the one one which has by no means been hacked, and Kraken has been round for practically so long as Bitcoin itself. To go that lengthy with out ever falling sufferer to a hack is severely spectacular.

Kraken invests closely in safety, safeguarding funds, NFTs, and privateness. They make use of a world-class safety group who take a risk-based method to making sure consumer belongings stay protected on the highest ranges.

For a deep-dive, try our article that assesses Kraken's safety.

The group has a long time of expertise constructing safety applications for the world’s high manufacturers, investigating shopper information breaches, creating safety know-how trusted by thousands and thousands of companies, and discovering vulnerabilities in know-how utilized by billions of individuals on daily basis. Kraken safety employs the next procedures and options:

Secure Coin and NFT storage- 95% of all deposits are saved in offline, air-gapped, geographically distributed chilly storage. Kraken holds full reserves in order that customers all the time have entry to fund withdrawals.

Platform Safety- Kraken servers reside in safe cages underneath 24/7 surveillance by armed guards and video screens. Bodily entry is strictly managed, and all code deployments are reviewed.

Info Safety- All delicate info is encrypted at each the system and information stage. As well as, entry is strictly managed and monitored.

Penetration testing– Kraken employs an professional group devoted to testing its techniques through totally different assault vectors to determine any vulnerabilities. Kraken additionally affords a bug bounty for anybody figuring out potential points with the platform’s safety.

Platform Monitoring– A devoted safety group constantly screens the platform for suspicious exercise.

From a buyer perspective, customers can get pleasure from peace of thoughts with the next security measures to guard their accounts:

• 2FA- Google Authenticator or Yubikey
• E mail confirmations for withdrawals with self-serve account locks
• Customizable API key permissions
• PGP signed and encrypted electronic mail
• Configurable account timeout for one more layer of safety
• International settings time lock

Kraken’s safety is so top-notch and revered within the {industry} that they’ve taken their experience to the subsequent stage and created Kraken Safety Labs.

Kraken Safety Labs is an elite group of safety researchers that goal to guard and develop the cryptocurrency ecosystem by offering their companies to different platforms, providing to check third-party merchandise, working with different distributors to assist resolve their safety points, and informing the general public about methods they’ll greatest shield themselves.

Kraken feels that {industry} leaders are liable for enhancing the safety of all the crypto group and dealing tirelessly with different firms within the house to contribute to the advantage of everybody. The safer we will all work collectively for the advantage of the group, the higher we are going to all be. Huge kudos to Kraken for this unbelievable initiative.

Proof of Reserves

Kraken was one of many first exchanges within the {industry} to offer Proof-of-Reserves earlier than any of the FTX shenanigans occurred. I remembered, as a Kraken consumer, receiving emails means again in Dec final yr, asking me to confirm that my funds are secure on their trade. That was the primary time I’d heard of Proof-of-Reserves.

Proof of Reserves (PoR) is an audit performed by a third-party auditor that checks whether or not the trade has the belongings claimed by its shoppers. It entails an algorithmic operate often called the Merkle Tree.

How It Works

Based on the Kraken weblog, "The auditor takes an anonymised snapshot of all balances held and aggregates them into a Merkle tree – a privacy-friendly data structure that encapsulates all client balances.” The final proof of the pudding is the Merkle root, basically, a unique cryptographic fingerprint that identifies the balances when the snapshot was created.

Next, the auditor compares this data with what is provided Kraken to ensure there is a match. The data also includes client liabilities, not just funds held. This is an important distinction as not all exchanges provide this information.

How Do Users Verify on Their Own?

Customers log into their account and navigate to Settings > Account. Then select the Audit tab. Information related to the Audie appears including the date, the name of the audit firm, and the type of audit conducted. There is also an Audit ID used to identify which audit is done. This is because Kraken intends to perform numerous audits throughout the year in the future. 

Users can also verify their records with the auditor or do it on their own, but the latter option is usually reserved for those with programming knowledge. You’ll need to know what you’re looking at.

The audit is done by Armanino, a respectable accounting and tax firm with under 5000 employees worldwide, according to Glassdoor. Kraken’s holdings as verified by Armanino are as below:

The full report of what Armanino found is available for public scrutiny.

What to Look Out For

While it’s all well and good that the funds are secure, it’s worth noting that the above screenshot does not cover all the assets currently held in Kraken.

In addition, there’s no way to tell whether funds were moved to pass the audit or removed after the audit has been passed. Unless audits are done in real-time on an up-to-the-minute basis, one can only rely on the integrity of the exchange.

The integrity of the company performing the audit could be called into question. What we, the users, can only do is trust that the auditor is an honest one. This may be assisted by having it belong to other associations or organisations in its field.

As one of the oldest exchanges in the crypto industry, Kraken has seen more than its fair share of disasters in the market. Their integrity in the industry can be further attested by Nic Carter’s webpage on Proof of Reserves as being under the “gold standard” tier. At this point, there’s only so much one can ask for while keeping fingers crossed.

Kraken vs. SEC

In November 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Kraken in a sprawling lawsuit that accused the exchange of unlawfully facilitating the buying and selling of crypto assets.

The SEC alleges that Kraken intertwines the traditional services of an exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency without having registered any of those functions with the Commission as required by law. Kraken’s alleged failure to register these functions has deprived investors of significant protections, including inspection by the SEC, recordkeeping requirements, and safeguards against conflicts of interest, among others. – SEC

The SEC is arguing that Kraken commingles its customers’ money with its own, including paying operational expenses directly from accounts that hold customer cash. Kraken also allegedly commingles its customers’ crypto assets with its own, creating what its auditor had identified as “a significant risk of loss” to its customers. It's important that in February 2023, Kraken agreed to cease offering or selling securities through crypto asset staking services or staking programs and pay a civil penalty of $30 million to the SEC.

In response, Kraken said it disagrees with the regulator's claims and that it will vigorously defend the lawsuit.

The SEC alleges that Kraken “commingled” its own funds with its clients’. This is a similar allegation already made of other crypto trading platforms. The SEC cannot and does not allege that any customer funds are missing, or any loss has occurred. Nor does it allege that any loss will occur. The complaint itself concedes that this so-called “commingling” is no more than Kraken spending fees it has already earned. – Kraken

Cryptocurrencies Available on Kraken

The Kraken cryptocurrency exchange has a decent number of financial products and cryptocurrencies listed, with over 180 available, which is fewer than many of its competitors. They support the major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with harder-to-find tokens like Yield Guild Games and Star Atlas.

For stablecoin support, the exchange supports USDT on Ethereum and Tron and supports tokens on Polkadot, Solana, and Cardano, along with many other networks. Ripple is also available on Kraken for those XRP enthusiasts. You can find the full list on the Kraken Supported Assets Page.

Kraken Exchange Platform Design and Usability

Now let’s dive into the important stuff, design and usability for the Kraken platform and Kraken Pro.

First, the Kraken platform is extremely user-friendly. For anyone who enjoys the simplicity of Coinbase, Kraken is well matched in this regard. Coinbase and Kraken both pride themselves on being the most simplistic, beginner-friendly platforms that are great for first-time crypto users. Here is a look at how clean and straightforward the “buy crypto” section looks, there are no overwhelming frills and features here:

Simple options to buy, sell and convert. It couldn’t be easier. For insight into your account, you have the main screen that shows all your available balances, open positions, and a ledger history of your spending, buys and sells:

Platform usability is where I feel Kraken outshines Coinbase as it is a good mix between the simple yet too-basic functionality of Coinbase and the often considered too-complex and feature-packed exchanges like Binance or Kucoin, which many crypto users find overwhelming.

Kraken has a pretty impressive list of coins that can be staked to earn passive income, offering more than the likes of Coinbase yet far less than all the ways users can earn on a platform like Binance. The Earn section is where users can stake and access the Parachain auctions:

The Staking screen is simple. Users can find all 18 assets available and can stake and unstake. I’ll skip the funding and history screens as that provides users with their full crypto trading history and funding situation and history. Instead, let’s take a look at the trading screen.

There are two options for trading, simple and advanced:

You will see that the simple option gives users the chance to buy and sell and choose either limit or market order types.

The advanced screen allows for trading between crypto pairs and fiat to crypto pairs. Here users can select the following order types and settings:

• Limit order
• Market Order
• Stop-loss/take-profit
• Stop-loss limit/take-profit limit
• Settle position

Kraken traders can also choose up to 5x leverage on the advanced trading screen and select when to start the trade. Note that there is no charting functionality here. That is the main difference between Kraken and Kraken Pro. Now let’s jump into Kraken Pro.

Looking at the Kraken Pro exchange:

We can see significantly more order functionality and tools for active traders. Users have a lot of options here for different charting styles like:

• Time frames – 1 minute to 1 week
• Chart styles – Candlestick, Heikin-Ashi, bar, line, mountain, percentage, logarithmic, depth chart, grid.
• Drawing Tools – Lines, extrapolator, arrows, horizontal, vertical, parallel, Fibonacci Retracement, speed fan and speed arc, and more.
• Indicators – Over 20 different trading indicators are available, including EMAs, MACD, Volume, ATR, Bollinger bands and more.

Top Trader Tip 💯: You can expand the chart to full screen to conduct more analysis. You can also close panels and extend the chart size just like standard windows 

The middle channel is where the watch list is as well as the buy/sell walls showing the trader the current bullish or bearish sentiment. Besides that, you have the exchange order book and previous orders, and the right-hand side of the screen is where traders can place their order types. Let’s look closer at the order types:

It is a good idea to know what all the different order types are and what they mean:

• Market Order: This order is placed at the market level and will be executed immediately.
• Limit Order: This is set at a predetermined price and quantity that could be away from the current market level. It will remain open until either executed or expires. For the expiry options, you have Good-Till-Cancelled, which will remain open until executed or cancelled. You can also choose a daily, weekly, monthly, or custom expiry.
• Stop Loss: Simple limit order that will be executed once reached and limit the loss you have on your account.
• Take Profit: The opposite of a stop loss. This will be executed once your profitable position has reached a specific price limit.
• Settle Position: This is an order that you will use if you want to settle an open margin traded position.

For traders who have specific stop/take profit levels in mind, you can set a conditional close. These orders will open an order for closing a position at the same time as the order for opening it 

So, for example, assume you were about to go long BTC at a certain limit level. You would place this order, and at the same time, you could set the stop loss that you would apply to this open order.

Note ✍️: It is not possible to place both a stop loss and a take profit with a conditional close

If Kraken Pro looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics and you want to learn how to trade, check out our article on How to Perform Technical Analysis.

Alternatively, Guy also has a fantastic three-part series on how to perform technical analysis; part one is here:

Ultimately, Kraken strikes a fantastic balance between functionality and ease of use with the Kraken platform while providing a valuable platform for serious traders who need advanced charting capabilities with Kraken Pro.

Deposits and Withdrawals at Kraken

Kraken is pretty good in deposit and withdrawal methods, supporting multiple methods and fiat currencies, along with crypto deposits and withdrawals.

Crypto can be purchased directly with a debit card using the “Buy Crypto Widget,” but as outlined in the fees section, this isn’t the most cost-friendly way to go about that. Instead, your best bet is to deposit funds via bank transfer and swap them for your digital asset of choice.

The following funding currencies and methods are supported (methods vary based on location):

• USD- ACH, FedWire, SWIFT, Signet, Silvergate Exchange Network
• EUR- SEPA, SEPA Instant, SWIFT
• CAD- Wire Transfer, in-person cash or debit, Interac e-Transfer, SWIFT
• AUD- Bank Transfer, Osko, SWIFT
• GBP- FPS/BACS, CHAPS, SWIFT
• CHF- SIC, SWIFT
• JPY- SWIFT, Furikomi/Domestic remittance

And withdrawals look a little something like this:

• USD- ACH, FedWire, SWIFT, Signet, Silvergate Exchange Network
• EUR- SEPA, Instant SEPA, SWIFT
• GBP- FPS, CHAPS, SWIFT
• CAD- EFT, Interac e-Transfer, Wire transfer, SWIFT
• CHF- SIC, SWIFT
• AUD- Bank Transfer, Osko, SWIFT
• JPY- SWIFT, Furikomi/Domestic remittance

Kraken Customer Support

Time to cover the ever-important topic of customer service, which is crucial for you day traders out there. Don’t wait until all hell is breaking loose and you have live money being risked on the line before you realize that your chosen platform has terrible support.

Kraken truly blows the competition out of the water, offering 24/7 customer support. I was honestly amazed at what I found. They’ve got hundreds of trained staff members based in the US, UK, and Europe, ready to answer customer queries and issues. They offer email, in-app chat, and even live phone support. Huge thumbs up to them for phone support and live chat support. Super convenient! 👍

On the Kraken support site, they claim that they have a 90% client satisfaction rating score, which is pretty incredible, but this diligent crypto researcher dug a little further to see if I could substantiate that claim, find some unbiased opinions, and of course, test this out for myself.

I will point out that I could not find how this 90% score was calculated. Come on, Kraken, you've gotta back up claims like that with data. I don't throw down all over town, walking into local bakeries telling them that my grandma makes 100% the best cookies (which she does), and if I did, you bet I'd have heaps of data and studies backing up those claims of cookie goodness.

As I tested out their support, I called them to ask where that score came from and how it was calculated but was told that, unfortunately, it was internal information. But they send out surveys, and the chat support can be rated good or bad, which likely contributes to that score.

I will tell you how I found their support in a moment, but now, back to some unbiased sources.

Right off the bat, we have Trustpilot showing a dismal score of 2.2 out of 10 for 1,700 reviews. Now, I always take Trustpilot reviews with more than a pinch of salt. There is so much fake review writing, bots, and competing firms paying companies to spam negative reviews on the competition, so I am not too concerned about the Trustpilot score. Many negative reviews simply call Kraken a scam, which it clearly isn't after so many years in operation and being heavily regulated.

Falsified reviews are a huge issue online across many platforms. One crypto project that is looking to tackle that issue is Revain. Take a look at our Revain article for more information about that interesting and much-needed crypto project.

There are a lot of negative reviews about Kraken denying users access to funds on Trustpilot and a few scattered around Reddit. Of course, this is a potential cause for concern, and I cannot verify if these are fake reviews or misunderstandings from the user side, but I did want to point that out. Though similar claims exist for every crypto exchange, and 9 out of 10 times, there is a reasonable explanation.

The company LaptopMag.com conducted an independent review of the customer support for many of the major exchanges and gave Kraken the top score, 100% across the board, and named them the "Finest Crypto Buyer Help Winner" for 2021:

I agree with LaptopMag's findings and would give them a perfect score. I have not dealt with Kraken support much in the past, but for this review, I reached out to them via phone and live chat support and am not exaggerating when I say I was connected to an agent within seconds across both channels. Both agents were friendly and incredibly efficient, straight to the point and helpful.

I thought it may have been a fluke, so I tried the next day, same results again. This was hands down the fastest support I've ever received, not just from a crypto company but from any company. I took a quick look on Reddit (the ultimate source of truth) and found similar sentiment to my own, many Kraken users praising Kraken's "Phenomenal Help", as one user put it.

On the topic of customer service and support, a mention of Kraken's fantastic self-help section also deserves a shoutout.

I write a lot of reviews about crypto platforms and spend a worrying amount of time scouring the self-help sections of websites. Kraken's is, by far, the easiest and best I have used in terms of accurate answers and ease of navigation. They have articles for everything; nothing is left unanswered. Most importantly, Kraken's indexing and searching algorithm made every article easy to find based on my search terms.

Top Benefits Reviewed

So, is Kraken legit? Absolutely!

Kraken strongly emphasises two of the most important factors: security and support. From my years of crypto research and using just about every exchange you can name, I can truthfully say that, in my opinion, nobody does these two things better. I also like that Kraken is both incredibly beginner-friendly, while still being able to cater to advanced users. 

Kraken is a long-standing, battle-tested, highly respected and solid crypto asset exchange. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

What Can Be Improved

I like seeing more product and feature support with my crypto platforms of choice. Binance is my go-to, just because I enjoy the insane amount of features they support. Kraken could up its game and offer more products and features.

Though, to play devil's advocate, they use simplicity to their advantage. Many crypto users shy away from exchanges like Binance and KuCoin as there is too much "noise", and I get that point as well, so they may see this lack of feature support as a strength, not a weakness. It would also be nice to see them provide users with a more fee-friendly way to purchase crypto with a card.

Final Thoughts On Kraken Exchange

I was incredibly impressed with everything I uncovered during this review. I have had a Kraken account for a while but have only used it seldomly in the past to pick up some altcoins not supported elsewhere and to have it on standby as a backup exchange, but I foresee myself utilising it more often after my findings.

Kraken's amazing security and support, coupled with beautiful simplicity and ease of use and low fees, make it clear why they are the fourth biggest exchange in the world in trading volume, with millions of happy users worldwide.

As I alluded to in this article, Kraken strikes the perfect balance, or "candy spot," between ease of use and performance. Many veteran crypto fanatics and energetic day merchants graduate and transfer on from exchanges like Coinbase as a consequence of a scarcity of options and charting performance. On the similar time, another exchanges are sometimes criticised for attempting to do an excessive amount of, changing into too complicated and overwhelming. Kraken splits this down the center and affords all of the crucial capabilities and invaluable options with out all the additional “noise.”

After studying all the pieces for this assessment, I’m a bit disillusioned that I’ve been overlooking Kraken for thus lengthy and never profiting from this world-class trade. So now, anytime I get requested for my opinion on what I believe the perfect trade is for somebody new to crypto, my reply goes to be Kraken, for sure.

👉 Signal-Up for Kraken and reap the benefits of this high crypto trade!

Take a look at our two different Kraken-focused articles:

• Kraken vs Coinbase
• Kraken vs OKX

Steadily Requested Questions

Is Kraken Secure?

Completely, they’re one of many world’s oldest and most well-respected and extremely regulated crypto exchanges. Customers get pleasure from that Kraken is secure and extremely licensed and controlled.

Is Kraken higher than Binance?

Kraken and Binance fulfil totally different roles within the {industry}. Binance is healthier for customers trying to entry extra earn options, launchpads, use crypto playing cards, and entry an insane quantity of options. Binance is just like the Swiss military knife of digital belongings, the place customers can do nearly all the pieces. Take a look at our Binance assessment to be taught extra concerning the feature-packed trade.

Kraken makes a speciality of simplicity, safety, and buyer assist, outshining Binance in these regards.

Is Kraken higher than Coinbase?

Kraken and Coinbase are preventing for a similar market share and are very comparable of their choices. It’s my private opinion that Kraken is healthier than Coinbase for the next causes:

• Decrease charges
• Much better buyer assist
• It has by no means been hacked
• Provide extra options and tradeable markets
• It affords extra superior charting performance
• Superior academic sources and content material

Is Kraken an enormous trade?

Sure, Kraken is likely one of the largest US-based exchanges, presently ranked #3 in buying and selling quantity for spot buying and selling and #8 for derivatives buying and selling.

The place is Kraken trade positioned?

Kraken is positioned in San Francisco, California.

Is Kraken a decentralized trade?

No, Kraken is a centralized trade, much like Coinbase and Binance.

Is Kraken Legit?

Sure, Kraken is a well-established cryptocurrency trade platform. It has been working since 2011 and is likely one of the largest and most respected exchanges on this planet.