Kraken review

4.7Last reviewed 2026-08-23

Kraken is our top overall pick for buying bitcoin. Founded in San Francisco in 2011, it has operated for well over a decade without a major loss of customer funds, runs proof-of-reserves audits, and publishes some of the fairest rates in the business once you use Kraken Pro.

Pricing depends on which interface you use. The simple Buy widget and card purchases are convenient but include a spread; Kraken Pro charges 0.25% maker and 0.40% taker below $10,000 in 30-day volume, falling from there. Funding options cover ACH and wire transfers in the US, SEPA in Europe, debit and credit cards, and a wide set of fiat currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, and AUD.

The company confidentially filed for a US IPO in November 2025, with reporting pointing to a listing as soon as the third quarter of 2026, and Deutsche Boerse bought $200 million of secondary shares in April 2026 at a valuation around $13.3 billion. Going public will add disclosure obligations, which is good news for customers. The main gaps: New York and Maine residents are excluded, Texas residents cannot fund by ACH, and beginners can be confused by the split between the simple interface and Kraken Pro, which have very different costs.

Visit KrakenOpens www.kraken.com

Founded: 2011
Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
Fees: Kraken Pro charges 0.25% maker and 0.40% taker below $10,000 in 30-day volume, falling from there. The simple Buy widget and card purchases include a spread and cost noticeably more.
KYC: Required
Payment methods: Credit or debit card, SEPA transfer, Wire transfer, SEPA Instant
Status: Operating

How you can pay on Kraken

Every deposit rail Kraken supports in at least one market. Which of them you can use depends on your country; the country guides below list the exact methods per market.

Domestic bank rail: Faster Payments iDEAL Interac e-Transfer Local bank transfer PayID / Osko
SEPA (euro area): SEPA Instant SEPA transfer
ACH (United States): ACH transfer
International wire: Wire transfer
Card: Carte Bancaire Credit or debit card
Pay wallet: Apple Pay Google Pay
Local e-wallet: PayPal

As published by Kraken: ACH transfer (US), SEPA transfer (Europe), Wire transfer, Debit and credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, PayPal.

Where Kraken offers each rail, country by country

Pros and cons

What works

No major loss of customer funds since it opened in 2011, one of the longest clean records among large exchanges
Kraken Pro rates start at 0.25% maker and 0.40% taker and fall with volume
Proof-of-reserves audits let customers verify their holdings are backed
Broad fiat support with free or cheap ACH and SEPA deposits

What to watch

The simple Buy widget and card purchases cost far more than Kraken Pro rates, and beginners land there by default
Not available to residents of New York or Maine, and Texas residents cannot fund by ACH

Fees in detail

maker: 0.25% on Kraken Pro below $10,000 in 30-day volume, decreasing at higher tiers
taker: 0.40% on Kraken Pro below $10,000 in 30-day volume, decreasing at higher tiers
spread note: Instant buys through the simple interface include a spread; use Kraken Pro for the published maker-taker rates.
deposit note: ACH and SEPA deposits are free or low cost; card and digital wallet deposits carry processing fees.
withdrawal note: Bitcoin withdrawals carry a small network-based fee; fiat withdrawal costs vary by method and currency.

Every Kraken cost, by rail and by country

What it costs to use Kraken

Kraken costs by action, with conditions where they apply.
What you do	What it costs
Buy bitcoin on the Kraken Pro spot market	0.40% maker, 0.80% taker at the entry tierFalls to 0.30% and 0.60% above $2,500 of 30 day volume, and to 0.22% and 0.38% above $10,000. Kraken says your tier reflects the most favourable of three measures: spot volume, futures volume, or assets held on the platform.
Buy bitcoin instantly in the Kraken app or website	1% on instant and recurring buys, 1.5% on custom ordersKraken states that spreads apply on top of the trading fee.
Pay with a debit card	3.75% plus 0.25 in your currency (USD, EUR, GBP, CAD or AUD)A funding fee charged on top of the trading fee. Kraken lists Apple Pay and Google Pay at the same rate.
Fund the account by bank transfer	Free on US ACH, FedWire via Dart Bank, SEPA, UK Faster Payments and Dutch iDEALSWIFT via Bank Frick costs 3 USD, EUR or GBP. SWIFT via Customers Bank is free. Canadian domestic wire and e-Transfer and Australian PayID and Osko are also free.
Withdraw bitcoin to your own wallet	A network fee set per transaction, shown before you confirmKraken publishes no fixed bitcoin withdrawal rate on its fee schedule. It states that the fees displayed when you confirm a transaction are the fees you pay.
Subscribe to Kraken+	No trading fee on up to $10,000 a month of trading volumeSpreads and card fees still apply.
Convert a balance below the minimum order size	Fixed 3%Applies only to the small balance conversion tool.

Kraken's security and regulatory record

Everything on the record we could date and source, newest first, including the parts that count against it.

2026-06-30Proof of reserves
Latest proof of reserves shows bitcoin backed at 102.9%
Kraken publishes a proof of reserves reviewed by a third party accountant, covering spot balances, staking allocations, margin positions and futures balances. The attestation dated 30 June 2026 reports bitcoin at 102.9% of client balances, ether at 100.5%, solana at 100.6%, XRP at 102.3% and cardano at 100.3%.
Kraken proof of reserves
2026-04-14Breach
Kraken refuses extortion after two support staff misused internal systems
Criminals tried to extort Kraken by threatening to publish videos showing access to internal systems holding customer data. Two customer support employees had improperly accessed limited customer information: Kraken received a tip about the first video in February 2025 and a second video surfaced more recently. About 2,000 accounts, roughly 0.02% of users, were affected, and only customer support data was exposed. Kraken said client funds were never at risk. Its chief security officer said the company would not pay and would not negotiate, and Kraken is working with federal law enforcement to prosecute those involved.
BleepingComputer, Kraken extorted by hackers after insider breach
2025-06-26Licence
Kraken wins a MiCA licence from the Central Bank of Ireland
The Central Bank of Ireland authorised Kraken as a crypto asset service provider under the EU Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation on 26 June 2025, covering all seven regulated activities, including custody, trading, portfolio management and payments. The authorisation passports across the 30 countries of the European Economic Area, and came ahead of the EU's end of year compliance deadline for crypto asset service providers.
CryptoSlate, Kraken secures MiCA licence via Central Bank of Ireland
2025-03-27Resolved
SEC drops its unregistered exchange case against Kraken
The SEC sued Kraken in November 2023, alleging it ran an unregistered online trading platform and mishandled customer funds. The agency filed joint stipulations on 27 March 2025 to dismiss the action with prejudice, so it cannot be refiled. Kraken said the case ended with no penalty, no admission of wrongdoing and no change to its business model.
The Block, SEC formally dismisses enforcement action against Kraken
2024-08-23Enforcement
Australian court finds Kraken's local operator broke product rules, AUD 8 million penalty
On 23 August 2024 the Federal Court found that Bit Trade, the Australian operator of Kraken, failed to comply with its design and distribution obligations by offering a margin extension credit facility from October 2021 without a target market determination. More than 1,100 Australian customers used it, paying over US$7 million in fees and interest and losing more than US$5 million trading, one of them about US$4 million. Justice Nicholas called the compliance system seriously deficient. Bit Trade was ordered to pay a penalty of $8 million plus ASIC's costs. ASIC had commenced the proceedings on 20 September 2023.
ASIC media release 24-274MR
2024-06-19Breach
Researchers exploited a balance bug and withdrew about $3 million
Kraken disclosed on 19 June 2024 that a flaw had let an account credit itself with funds it never deposited. Engineers fixed it in 47 minutes, but employees of the audit firm CertiK had already used it over five days to withdraw about $3 million into their own accounts. Kraken's security chief said the firm was extorting the exchange rather than doing white hat research, and that a bug bounty participant should withdraw only enough to prove the flaw. The money was returned to Kraken.
DL News, inside Kraken's scramble to patch a $3m bug
2023-02-09Enforcement
SEC settlement shuts Kraken's US staking service for $30 million
The SEC charged Payward Ventures over an unregistered staking as a service programme that held more than $2.7 billion of crypto for over 135,000 US participants. Kraken paid $30 million, discontinued the service for US account holders and unstaked their assets, and neither admitted nor denied the allegations. Staked assets were returned to customers rather than lost.
Manatt client alert on the SEC staking settlement
2022-11-28Enforcement
Kraken pays $362,158 to settle US sanctions violations over Iran
OFAC found 826 apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. Kraken applied geolocation controls at account opening but did not block transactions by IP address, so users who appeared to be in Iran kept trading. The case was treated as non egregious and voluntarily self disclosed, cutting a statutory maximum of $272,228,964 to a settlement of $362,158.70. Kraken also committed to spend a further $100,000 on sanctions compliance controls, and added transaction level geolocation blocking, blockchain analytics, a dedicated sanctions officer and further training.
National Law Review, OFAC settlement with Kraken
2021-09-28Enforcement
CFTC fines Kraken $1.25 million over illegal margin trading
The CFTC ordered Payward Ventures, trading as Kraken, to pay a $1.25 million civil monetary penalty for illegally offering margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets, including bitcoin, and for operating as an unregistered futures commission merchant. The conduct ran from about June 2020 to July 2021. The CFTC found Kraken kept control of the assets, required positions to be closed within 28 days and could force liquidation, so actual delivery never took place.
CFTC press release 8433-21
2020-09-16Licence
Wyoming grants Kraken the first US bank charter for a crypto firm
The Wyoming Division of Banking approved Kraken Financial as a special purpose depository institution on 16 September 2020, the first bank charter issued to a crypto company in the United States. An SPDI is barred from making loans with customer deposits and is not required to hold FDIC insurance. It may take deposits and provide custody, fiduciary asset management and related digital asset banking services.
Hunton Andrews Kurth, The First Cryptocurrency Bank

The Kraken record by kind, and compared with its alternatives

Where we recommend Kraken

Countries where Kraken ranks in our local guide, each with its rank, the payment methods it takes there and the legal position. Availability beyond these is possible but unverified by us.

Not available to residents of 12 countries by its own list: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, DR Congo, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Libya, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria.

All 127 countries with rank, rails and legal status

Kraken by state in the United States

51 state rows from our state guides, 4 of them verified against the operator's own page. Each state opens the Kraken page for it: availability, the caveat where there is one, the source, and the rails it takes there. Every state compared.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kraken going public?

Kraken confidentially filed for a US IPO in November 2025, and reporting points to a listing as soon as the third quarter of 2026. Deutsche Boerse bought $200 million of secondary shares in April 2026 at a valuation around $13.3 billion.

Has Kraken ever been hacked?

Kraken has operated since 2011 without a major loss of customer funds, one of the longest clean records among large exchanges. It also runs proof-of-reserves audits so customers can verify holdings are backed.

What is the cheapest way to buy bitcoin on Kraken?

Use Kraken Pro, which starts at 0.25% maker and 0.40% taker below $10,000 in 30-day volume. The simple Buy widget and card purchases include a spread and cost noticeably more.

Can I use Kraken in the United States?

Yes, in every state except New York and Maine, with ACH, wire, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal funding. Texas is served but cannot fund by ACH, and Washington regained full service in July 2025.