Kraken

Crypto exchange founded in 2011

Exchanges

#11 Overall

Ranked #11 of 17 exchanges in the published ranking

59 out of 100

ChainChoice Score

The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.

High evidence confidence
$96 your cost/yr

Is Kraken right for you?

Right for you if these matter most

Withdrawal track record8/10; the category best is 9
Licence coverage8/10; the category best is 9
Asset protection7/10; the category best is 8

Look elsewhere if these come first

Trading cost7/10 here; BSDEX scores 9

Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Latin America, Asia. Restricted: Japan, Singapore.

to test where you can use it.

The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best crypto exchange shows where it lands for you.

What will Kraken cost you?

$96 your cost/yr

How do you buy?: Trading
Your monthly volume: $1k
How you buy: Pro interface
Pro taker fee: 0.8%

$51 above the median of 16 priced exchanges.

How this is calculated

How safe is Kraken?

Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read August 2026.
Incidents1 dated incident on the verified record; the latest, vulnerability, 19 June 2024.
LicenceMiCA (EU): authorised by Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) since 25 June 2025. Passported: All 27 EU member states + EEA. The register record
On the registersMiCA: authorised, PAYWARD EUROPE SOLUTIONS LIMITED (IE, since 2025-06-25). Read 3 November 2026. Open the registerMiCA: authorised, PAYWARD GLOBAL SOLUTIONS LIMITED (IE, since 2025-06-25). Read 3 November 2026. Register

Open the evidence

Alternatives to Kraken

Compare all 4

10Bitvavo4 points above · stronger on withdrawal track record (9 against 8)63 out of 100$30
12BSDEXLevel on score · stronger on trading cost (9 against 7)59 out of 100$42
13VALRLevel on score · stronger on trading cost (8 against 7)59 out of 100$42

View all 17 ranked exchanges

Provider at a glance

Category: Exchanges
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Payward Europe Solutions Limited and Payward Global Solutions Limited. EEA (the two Irish Payward entities trading as Kraken, named in the kraken.com footer). This is the registered office the legal footer prints for Kraken's Irish entities (the EEA entity is the one the venue facts use). Kraken's Learn comparison table lists the group's headquarters as "USA" with no city.
Founded: 2011
The year founded
Supported assets: 600+
600+ cryptocurrencies. Not stated (Kraken Learn comparison page). Kraken's own pages print three figures: 600+ (Learn comparison), "over 639" and "300+ assets" (the /buy page, which adds "geo restrictions apply"). All are lower bounds; 600+ is recorded.
Monthly volume (reported): ~$41.9B
2026-09-23 to 2026-10-22. Reported, not verified: CoinGecko's public API (no key) /exchanges/{id}/volume_chart?days=30 returns 30 daily points, each the 24-hour spot volume in BTC CoinGecko reports for that venue at 00:00 UTC. volumeBtc is their sum; volumeUsd multiplies each day's BTC volume by CoinGecko's BTC/USD price at the same timestamp (/coins/bitcoin/market_chart?vs_currency=usd&days=30&interval=daily) and sums. CoinGecko's figure covers the markets it tracks for the venue and is not the venue's own number. Published in US dollars; with your country set it is shown in your currency at the ECB reference rate.
(30-day, CoinGecko)
Official website: kraken.com

Independent rankingchecked 3 November 2026How it works

Details

Scored 59 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in August 2026.

For your setup

Find out if Kraken fits you

The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where Kraken lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.

A few questions
No account required
Ranking-blind: no commercial input
Personalised in under 60 seconds

Find my best crypto exchangeNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.

Why this rank

Why Kraken ranks #11

Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (24.1 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest.

4 published criteria · Σ weight 100

CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence

7+6.727.09#7/17Loading evidence…

8+7.177.09#3/17Loading evidence…

8+6.148.09#3/17Loading evidence…

7+4.037.08#3/17Loading evidence…

Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero

Margin−4behind Bitvavo, #10

RobustnessOne point from changingacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 57–61 and ranks #11–#13

Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link

What would move the rank

Each line is the ranking run again with one of Kraken’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print? 7 → 9 on its ladder · passes Bitvavo+263#11 → #10

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print? 7 → 6 on its ladder · BSDEX passes it−157#11 → #13

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know? 8 → 7 on its ladder · BSDEX passes it−158#11 → #13

Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register? 8 → 7 on its ladder · BSDEX passes it−158#11 → #13

Smallest climb: “What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print?” 7 → 9 passes Bitvavo, #10.

Strengths

Where it leads

3 from the score data

Best for readers who weight

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know? — 8/10, category best 9/10
Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register? — 8/10, category best 9/10
If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms? — 7/10, category best 8/10

Tradeoffs

Where it trails

1 from the score data

Not for readers who put first

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print? — 7/10 against a category best of 9/10

Record watch-outs

The default Instant Buy surface charges 1% PLUS a spread Kraken discloses to exist but never numerically bounds — a recurring buyer who never finds Kraken Pro pays an unprintable premium on every order; and the support page warns withdrawal fees 'may differ from those displayed here'.

Competitive position

Where Kraken leads and where it trails

Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.

Availability#2 / 1712.0 of 20 · best 14.0

Published criteria#7 / 1718.0 of 30 · best 20.1

Friction#1 / 172.7 of 10 · constant here

Trust record#1 / 173.2 of 8 · constant here

Measured data#16 / 173.5 of 18 · best 13.8

Where Kraken leads

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know?#3 / 17
Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register?#3 / 17
If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms?#3 / 17

Where it trailsNo criterion in the bottom third of its pool.

Closest alternatives

The 3 nearest rows by score

Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.

Browse all 17

BSDEX#12 of 17 · score 59 · same score

Kraken leads on

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know?8 vs 6

BSDEX leads on

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print?9 vs 7

Largest single reason Kraken is ahead: availability (+15.6 display points).Scenario cost: BSDEX is −$54 against Kraken.

Compare View verdict for BSDEX

VALR#13 of 17 · score 59 · same score

Kraken leads on

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know?8 vs 7

VALR leads on

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print?8 vs 7

Largest single reason Kraken is ahead: availability (+15.6 display points).Scenario cost: VALR is −$54 against Kraken.

Compare View verdict for VALR

Bitvavo#10 of 17 · score 63 · 4.0 points ahead

Kraken leads on

If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms?7 vs 6

Bitvavo leads on

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know?9 vs 8
Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register?9 vs 8

Largest single reason Bitvavo is ahead: measured data (+17.2 display points).Scenario cost: Bitvavo is −$66 against Kraken.

Compare View verdict for Bitvavo

Against the leader

Why Bybit ranks above Kraken

81 vs 59 · gap 22.0

The compare workspace's arithmetic applied to these two rows. Each dimension's share of the gap is its weight × the difference, on the displayed scale — it reproduces the displayed gap of 22.0 to within rounding. Kraken is ahead on published criteria (+3.4 in its favour).

DimensionThisBybitGap share

Availability · 23% weight12.012.0same

Published criteria · 35% weight18.016.7+3.4, better

Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same

Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same

Measured data · 21% weight3.513.2−25.2, worse

Published criterionThisBybitPoints

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know? · w2889−0.90, worse

Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register? · w2486+1.54, better

If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms? · w1875+1.15, better

Net5981−22.0

Compare with #1 Bybit View verdict for Bybit

Your scenario

What Kraken costs on your scenario

The fee you actually pay on your volume for a year — the instant-buy spread, or the pro taker fee if you use that interface. A venue showing no instant-buy figure does not publish one; that is the finding, not a gap in our data. Excludes network gas and any withdrawal fee. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.

your cost/yr · default scenario — set your own

Your monthly volumeHow you buy

How do you buy?

$1k a month × 12 months × 0.8% pro taker fee = $96 / year

How do you buy? · your inputTrading

Your monthly volume · your input$1k

How you buy · your inputPro interface

Pro taker fee · published rate0.8%

Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 29 September 2026.

your cost/yr

$96

Under the default inputs · USD

Category median$4516 of 17 rows priced · Kraken +$51 vs median

Cheapest priced$6.00 · UpbitKraken costs +$90 more · availability not applied — set your country to filterCompare with Upbit

Cost is stated as your cost/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.

1 of 17 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.

Evidence

Evidence read 18 August 2026

One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.

4 of 4 cells scored

Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts

4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.

Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL

The receipt file has not been read yet.

Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness

4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.

RobustnessOne point from changingrank #11 to #13 across one-point re-runs

Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.

The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 18 August 2026.

Reading the evidence ledger…

CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt

What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print?strength 7 · weight 30Report an errorno source page—18 August 2026*

Unknown

No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.

No receipt

A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.

When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know?strength 8 · weight 28Report an errorno source page—18 August 2026*

Unknown

No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.

No receipt

A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.

Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register?strength 8 · weight 24Report an errorno source page—18 August 2026*

Unknown

No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.

No receipt

A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.

If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms?strength 7 · weight 18Report an errorno source page—18 August 2026*

Unknown

No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.

No receipt

A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.

* category-wide reading date; the cell carries none of its own.Report an error from any row. Reviewed within 7 days.

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores

Custody failure (Kraken 8/10): whoever holds the assets loses or withholds them.
Scored by When this venue broke, did people get their money out — and how would I know? · 28%
Insolvency failure (Kraken 7/10): the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.
Scored by If this exchange fails — or freezes me — are the coins legally mine, and on whose terms? · 18%
Regulatory failure (Kraken 8/10): no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
Scored by Whose licence actually covers me in my country — and can I find it on the register? · 24%

Not assessed by this ranking: Control failure, Liveness failure, Execution failure, Exit failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means. Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: What will I actually pay here at my volume — including the spread they don't print? (30%).

Facts

What the record publishes

facts, not scores

Pricing: Kraken fee schedule, read 29 September 2026 at https://www.kraken.com/features/fee-schedule (English; a fetch without a language header is served the same numbers in German). Kraken Pro spot tiers, columns "Spot 30-Day Vol (USD) OR", "Futures 30-Day Vol (USD) OR", "AoP (USD)", "Spot Maker (%)", "Spot Taker (%)": "Tier 1 $0+ < $5M N/A 0.40 % 0.80 %"; "Tier 2 $2.5K+ ≥ $5M N/A 0.30 % 0.60 %"; "Tier 3 $10K+ ≥ $10M 20k 0.22 % 0.38 %"; "Tier 12 $10M+ ≥ $300M 10m 0.0 % 0.10 %"; "Pro 5 $500M+ >5B 100m 0.0 % 0.05 %" (17 tiers in all). Tier rule: "Your tier is based on the best of :" spot volume, futures volume or assets on platform. Instant buy/sell, the default app surface: "Kraken charges a 1% trading fee on instant and recurring trades and a 1.5% fee on custom orders, which are waived for Kraken+ members on trading volume up to $10,000 per month (details below)." plus a spread the page discloses without a number: "the price you see includes a spread, the difference between the market rate and the rate you receive." and "Note: While trading fees are waived, spreads and card processing fees still apply." Small-balance conversion: "a fixed 3% fee applies to amounts below the minimum order size." Crypto withdrawals: a per-asset article exists (https://support.kraken.com/articles/360000767986, "Last updated: December 31, 2025") with the caveat "Withdrawal fees are subject to change and may differ from those displayed here; the final fees will be accurately shown at the time of confirmation."Kraken — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026
Prices published in: USDKraken — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026
Licences held: Not published
Compliance level: partial
Regulatory note: Kraken publishes an entity-matched map itself at https://support.kraken.com/articles/where-is-kraken-licensed-or-regulated (loaded 17 August 2026, re-verified 18 August 2026, served German): EEA — 'Payward Europe Solutions Limited, die unter dem Namen „Kraken“ tradet, ist als Anbieter von Krypto-Asset-Diensten (CASP gemäß MiCA) bei der CBI lizenziert (Registrierungsnummer C468360)' plus 'Payward Global …'”'
Supported chains: bitcoin, ethereum, solana, xrp, cardano, multi-chain (300+ assets; breadth is a filter, not scored)
Markets served: us, europe, ca, au, latam, asia
Primary markets: Not published
Restricted markets: Japan, Singapore
Operating limits: Not published
Availability note: Two distinct kinds of geographic language found. (1) True market restrictions/absences, self-disclosed on https://support.kraken.com/articles/where-is-kraken-licensed-or-regulated: 'Kraken ist in Singapur nicht lizenziert oder reguliert.' ('Kraken is not licensed or regulated in Singapore'). (2) A single 'Verbotene Regionen' (prohibited regions) list — 'Wir führen keine Geschäfte für Kunden aus den folgenden Regionen': Afghanistan, Belarus (Weißrussland), Crimea/Donetsk/Luhansk, Cuba, DR Congo, Iran, Iraq, JAPAN, Libya, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria — note Japan appears INSIDE this same list (verified 18 August 2026), so the page does not separate its Japan market exit from the sanctions-driven entries; the earlier draft's 'separate non-operated list' framing was wrong. Contracting entities are region-matched in the terms: Payward Interactive (US), PESL (EEA), Payward Canada, Bit Trade (AU), Payward Trading Ltd (BVI) for 'anywhere else in the world where we make our services available (except Canada, or as noted below)' (full clause verified in global terms).

Legal entity on file: Kraken, placed in 6 products. Only confirmed entities are shown; nothing is inferred from the brand name.

Failure record

Incident timeline

Dated events at Kraken that a verified research record holds, newest first: the record’s own words, the date it gives, the source, and what ChainChoice’s read did where the record links the two.

Reading the incident record for Kraken.

When an event that meets the extraordinary-review rule is found, the placement is re-read within 72 hours and carries a label until then. The timeline itself never moves a score. How reviews work

If something goes wrong with Kraken: where to complain, and where to report a scam

Loading the routes for your country.

Reviewed 18 August 2026

Re-read in progress

Overdue; re-read by 10 November 2026.

Methodology v2026.10.18

How this page is reviewed

Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.

Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.

How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money

History

What the record carries

Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.

17 methodology entries

18 August 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 59, #11 of 17. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
28 October 2026
2026.10.16
Two EEA exchanges join the ranking: Bit2Me and Gate EU; KuCoin EU is refused while suspended
- added Exchanges: Bit2Me enters at #8 (65) and Gate EU at #9 (64), each scored on the four published criteria from its own terms, fee pages and proof-of-reserves page. Bybit stays #1 (81).
- changed Exchanges: no criterion score of a venue already ranked changed. The measured-data term places each venue's published taker fee against the pool's, and with 16 venues it moves these rows: Bitstamp #2 81 → #2 80; Upbit #3 77 → #3 76; Luno #6 69 → #6 70; Bitvavo #8 64 → #10 63; Kraken #9 60 → #11 60; VALR #10 60 → #12 59; Gemini #11 48 → #13 48; CoinDCX #12 47 → #14 46; Mercado Bitcoin #13 43 → #15 41; Bitso #14 41 → #16 41. In Find my best, a reader who answers that serious licences in major markets are enough, or that access comes first, now gets Bybit ahead of Bitstamp: the two had tied at 81, and Bitstamp now scores 80.
- added Exchanges, country pages: Bit2Me is newly listed in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates; Gate EU is newly listed in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Bitstamp still leads the EEA and Norway pages and Bybit the other four. In the reader's-country order of each EEA country that has one, Bit2Me and Gate EU enter right after Coinbase.
- changed Exchanges: Gate's refusal now names its global platform only, re-read on 28 October 2026. KuCoin EU is refused as not live: its site's banner reads "KuCoin EU trading and deposit services were suspended at 14:30 (UTC+1) on February 4, 2026.", and its announcement of 20 February 2026 says a temporary restriction on new business activities remains in place after a notice from Austria's FMA. KuCoin's global refusal is re-dated. WhiteBIT's refusal is re-dated with the same day's read of whitebit.eu, which takes waitlist sign-ups only.
28 October 2026
2026.10.14
An exchange's fee is scored at the rate the entity serving the reader's country charges
- changed Exchanges and onramps: the fee term of the score reads the rate of the entity that serves the reader's country (taker fee, spread); with no country, the record's base rate. Replaces 2026.10.13's dearest rate.
- added A country whose rates differ from the base records has its own order, the questionnaire run for that country: /best with the country set, Find my best, compare and the country landing print it. 22 questionnaire countries (the EEA ones and the United States) have one for exchanges.
- added A row whose serving entity's rate was not read carries "regional rate not read" (Coinbase for EEA, UK and US readers: its retail fee table is behind sign-in; Kraken and Bybit for UK readers; OKX outside the EEA and the US, whose global page could not be loaded).
- changed OKX: the 0.20% / 0.10% spot-only rate is the EEA entity's and applies to EEA readers only; OKX has no base rate, so its published fee term is neutral.
28 October 2026
2026.10.13
A venue that charges by entity is priced for each reader by the entity that serves them, and scored on its dearest entity's rate
- changed Exchanges and onramps: the fee term of the score reads the dearest entry rate a venue publishes for any of its entities (taker fee, spread), not the rate of one entity.
- added Pricing records carry regional entries (entity, verbatim quote, source, read date); every cost a reader sees, on the list, the provider page and the country page, is computed on the entry for their country.
- changed Exchange scores this rule gave, before and after; 2026.10.14 replaced it in the same release, so they were never the published order: Bitstamp 79 to 81 (#3 to #1), Bybit 81 to 78 (#1 to #2), Upbit 76 to 78 (#4 to #3), Binance 75 to 76 (#5 to #4), OKX 80 to 73 (#2 to #5), Coinbase 69 to 71, Luno 69 to 70, Bitvavo 62 to 69, VALR 58 to 62 (#10 to #9), Kraken 60 to 62 (#9 to #10), CoinDCX 45 to 51 (#12 to #11), Gemini 48 to 49 (#11 to #12), Mercado Bitcoin 42 to 44. Bitso is unchanged at 41 (#14).
- added On every build three checks fail: a price without the currency it is billed in, a regional entry its quote does not bear out or a venue with a separate EEA entity and no EEA rate, and a provider that no longer operates still carrying a price.

Full methodology changelog

Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt exchange:kraken:2026.10.18:abe31da23876

How this verdict was produced

Are you Kraken? Reply to this verdict, or send evidence, ask for a correction or claim the listing. Every message gets a public ticket number; none of it changes a rank unless a public page or a signed statement supports it.

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Editorial review of Kraken , on file since April 2026 — the review is separate from the score.