Kraken security record

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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