What is Kraken?
Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange still working online as it was opened in 2011 by Jesse Powell.
The idea of creating this exchange came to Jesse Powell after visiting Mt.Gox exchange company. Jesse noticed all the problems this company had and he thought he could do a much better job so he decided to create his own exchange. In just a couple of years, Kraken became one of the top crypto exchanges on the market and to this day its still there.
Kraken services
Kraken offers trading for more than 47 cryptocurrencies and 7 fiat currencies. They have over 150 trading pairs available on their trading platform.
As most exchanges, Kraken also offers a margin trading and futures trading service but here the leverage is only up to x5.
Dark Pool is an unique service where people can trade anonymously. This means none of your orders will appear publicly and they will be kept only for yourself.
For experienced traders that are working with large amounts of money Kraken also offers a OTC service.
You can also trade on a forex market on Kraken using the fiat currencies allowed on the platform.
Kraken Staking Platform
Using Kraken Staking service you can earn a passive income just by staking your coins. The whole procces is very easy, as shown in the image above. You can buy the coins available for staking directly from Kraken exchange using fiat or other cryptocurrencies.
After staking your coins you'll get your profit twice a week. This profit comes from the Proof of Stake process. If you wish to know more about how the Proof of Stake process and the Staking service, Kraken has multiple tutorials and videos available on their platform.
Kraken deposit methods and supported currencies
Given the fact that Kraken is a US based exchange this doesn't allow them to have any cryptocurrency they want listed on thier exchange. They are trying to add as much cryptocurrencies as possible every year. Right now there are around 47 cryptocurrencies in total available for trading here.
Kraken also has 7 fiat currencies available. You can use this currencies for deposits, trading and withdrawals.
Deposits with fiat can be made using a debit card or a bank transfer. Keep in mind credit cards are not available for deposits. Withdrawals can be made through a bank account.
Kraken fees
Trading fees on Kraken are different depending on different factors. For those who buy fees are 0.16% while for those who sell fees are 0.26%. If you are trading a large volume of money (over 50.000$) fees slowly start to drop as shown in this table :
A fully detailed list of fees for cryptocurrencies withdrawals can be found here : https://support.kraken.com/hc/en-us...6-Cryptocurrency-withdrawal-fees-and-minimums
Fees for fiat withdrawals are different depending on the currency used and method of transaction. Fees start from 0 but they can go up to 40$.
Is Kraken a safe platform to use?
As said before, Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges still working. Since it was launched, Kraken was never hacked which proves that their platform is very secure.
One of the things that shows Kraken can be trusted is the fact that they have a proof of reserves audit. Using this people can actually see for themselves that Kraken has 100% of the reserves of users. You won't find a lot of exchanges being such transparent to their clients.
"95% of all deposits are kept in offline, air-gapped, geographically distributed cold storage. We keep full reserves so that you can always withdraw immediately on demand." Kraken
Even though Kraken is not insured by any legal company or service, they do have more than 100 million dollars saved as an insurance in case a hack or something similar happens. Compared with other exchanges this is a great amount of money, considering that Binance only offers an insurance of around 40 million dollars.
Limits on Kraken
Kraken doesn't require a KYC right from the beginning so you can start trading even without a verified account. But you will have certain limits for trading and deposits/withdrawals.
In the image you can see all limits based on your account level. Make sure you check Kraken Limits to see if there are any updates on the limits and the required documentations as it can be changed in time.
Kraken allowed/restricted countries
Kraken is available worldwide except for the following countries, according to Kraken :
People living in the following countries cannot register on Kraken : Afghanistan, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Tajikistan.
People living in the following countries can register on Kraken but will have limits added to their services : Central African Republic,Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Mali, Namibia,Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen
Kraken is available for everyone in US except people living in New York and Washington. Kraken is currently not accepting people living in the 2 states because of regulatory issues but they might be available for registration in the future
Affiliates program on Kraken
Kraken affiliates program has multiple advantages over other programs I've seen on exchanges :
- you get 20% commissions of all fees collected from your referrals transactions
-your referral will be available for lifetime in your account
-commissions are paid in fiat currencies instead of cryptocurrencies
-you can withdraw your commissions earned directly to a bank account
How to Join Kraken?
Visit Kraken's official website https://www.kraken.com/, click on the Sign Up button and complete the form. After verifying your email and phone number you're ready to go.
Kraken has available a movie app for both IOS and Android. Make sure you visit Kraken website to find the official links to the apps.
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