Kraken, the crypto exchange rather than the headset, water-cooler or rum brands that share the name, scores 3.7 out of 5 on our six-dimension scorecard as of September 2026, leading on deposits andKraken, the crypto exchange rather than the headset, water-cooler or rum brands that share the name, scores 3.7 out of 5 on our six-dimension scorecard as of September 2026, leading on deposits and

新手学院/Spotlight/Kraken Crypto Exchange Review 2026: 3.7 Out of 5, a 0.80% Entry Taker Fee, Four Licences, and the First Mark on a Clean Custody Record

Kraken Crypto Exchange Review 2026: 3.7 Out of 5, a 0.80% Entry Taker Fee, Four Licences, and the First Mark on a Clean Custody Record

作者：Sarah Chen

初阶

Sep 21, 2026Sarah Chen

20 分钟

Kraken, the crypto exchange rather than the headset, water-cooler or rum brands that share the name, scores 3.7 out of 5 on our six-dimension scorecard as of September 2026, leading on deposits and withdrawals and on security and custody and trailing on entry-tier fees, where Kraken Pro's Tier 1 charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker under the cross-platform tiers introduced on 9 July 2026; it suits US, UK, EEA and Canadian traders who want a licensed venue with bank rails in ten currencies, and it is the wrong pick for fee-sensitive traders below Pro's volume tiers and for altcoin hunters.

Key Takeaways

Kraken scores 3.7 out of 5 overall, with a 5.0 on deposits and withdrawals, 4.5 on security and custody, and 2.0 on fees and costs.
Kraken Pro's Tier 1 is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, Tier 3 at $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets is 0.22% and 0.38%, and the Kraken app charges 1% plus a spread on instant buys, so $10,000 of monthly market orders costs about $1,200 a year on the app, $960 at Pro Tier 1 and $456 at Tier 3 against $60 at MEXC's 0.05%.
Kraken is an FCA-registered cryptoasset firm, holds two MiCA authorisations from the Central Bank of Ireland dated 25 June 2025, is a Restricted Dealer in Canada, and holds US state licences with a Wyoming bank charter.
On 13 April 2026 Kraken disclosed an extortion attempt tied to two insider incidents of unauthorised access to limited support data affecting about 2,000 accounts, with no breach of its systems, no funds or keys exposed, and no payment made.
Kraken has published proof of reserves since 2014, holds ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and states that it has never suffered a breach resulting in loss of client funds.
Kraken's 11,000 or more commission-free stocks are for US clients only, its xStocks tokens are closed to the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and CoinGecko tracks 717 coins on Kraken against 1,633 on MEXC.

Which Kraken Price Are You Paying: the App, Kraken+ or Kraken Pro?

Kraken runs three price layers under one brand, an app that charges 1% plus a spread on instant and recurring trades and 1.5% on custom orders, a Kraken+ subscription at $4.99 a month that waives app trading fees on up to $10,000 of monthly volume while spreads still apply, and Kraken Pro, an order book whose cross-platform tiers introduced on 9 July 2026 start at 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, and most of what people get wrong about Kraken's fees comes from quoting one layer as if it were the whole schedule.

Most reviews still quote the older Pro entry rates, and the 9 July 2026 schedule replaced them with tiers set by the better of 30-day spot volume or assets on platform.

The ladder falls fast: Tier 3 at $10,000 of volume or $20,000 of assets is 0.22% maker and 0.38% taker, Tier 7 at $250,000 of volume or $400,000 of assets is 0.10% and 0.22%, and the maker rate reaches 0% only at $10 million of volume.

The second thing a prospective user needs is the custody record, which stayed clean on funds through April 2026 and picked up its first data mark that month.

The rest of this review scores the platform dimension by dimension and dates every number.

How We Scored Kraken

This review scores Kraken from 0 to 5 on six equally weighted dimensions: fees and costs, asset coverage, derivatives, security and custody, deposits and withdrawals, and customer support.

Every figure comes from Kraken's own fee schedule, licensing page, xStocks availability page, help centre or terms, from a regulator, from CoinGecko exchange data or research, or from an established news organisation, and each carries a retrieval date.

Regional availability and regulatory standing are disclosed but never scored, because a platform is either usable where you live or it is not.

MEXC operates a competing exchange, and the full scoring rules, source hierarchy and conflict-of-interest policy are published in our exchange review methodology.

The support score is based on published channels only; our timed-ticket test for this platform is scheduled for the next review cycle.

Where Is Kraken Available, and Where Is MEXC?

Kraken is licensed or registered in the United States, the United Kingdom, the EEA and Canada, while MEXC does not onboard residents of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EEA, Singapore or Hong Kong, so most Kraken customers cannot act on the MEXC comparisons in this review at all, and every MEXC figure below is information for readers elsewhere.

Kraken

Kraken's licensing page, retrieved 3 September 2026, lists an FCA registration as a cryptoasset firm in the UK, two MiCA crypto-asset service provider authorisations from the Central Bank of Ireland dated 25 June 2025 and passported across the EEA, Restricted Dealer registration with Canadian securities regulators, US state licences with a Wyoming bank charter, and a MiFID investment firm licence via CySEC for derivatives.

Kraken Futures is not available to Canada, US and New Zealand customers under the Kraken Futures schedule, and US clients reach derivatives through a separately regulated arm.

Kraken's commission-free stocks are available in the US only, and its xStocks availability page, updated 18 June 2026, says xStocks are not available in the United States, Australia, Canada, the UK or prohibited regions, with EEA clients admitted by questionnaire and fiat only.

MEXC

MEXC does not serve residents of the United States or the United Kingdom, where MEXC Global Ltd has been on the FCA Warning List since 22 March 2024, and readers there should use a platform licensed by their local regulator.

As of 17 September 2026, MEXC is not authorised under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation and appears on ESMA's register of non-compliant entities following a September 2025 decision by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets; readers in the EU and EEA should treat a MiCA-authorised platform as the appropriate option.

The MiCA transitional period ended on 1 July 2026.

MEXC's user agreement also prohibits Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, and the full list is in our restricted countries guide.

Kraken Scorecard 2026: Six Scores and One Overall Figure

Kraken earns 3.7 out of 5 overall, with a 5.0 on deposits and withdrawals, 4.5 on security and custody, 4.0 on customer support, 3.5 on derivatives, 3.0 on asset coverage and 2.0 on fees and costs, a profile built for licensed-market holders who fund from a bank rather than for active traders at the entry tier.

Dimension	Score (out of 5)	What we measured	Verified against
Fees and costs	2	Kraken Pro Tier 1 at 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, Tier 3 at 0.22% and 0.38% from $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets, Tier 7 at 0.10% and 0.22%, the app at 1% plus spread on instant buys and 1.5% on custom orders, Kraken+ at $4.99 a month waiving app fees to $10,000 a month, Kraken Futures at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, in-app Perps at 0.25% to open and 0.25% to close	Official fee schedule
Asset coverage	3	717 coins and 1,412 spot pairs tracked on CoinGecko, 147 new listings between January and April 2026 of which 66 were RWA or xStocks products, 13 days of delisting notice and a withdrawal window of about three months followed by platform liquidation in our listing disclosure index	CoinGecko exchange page and Kraken exchange report, our listing disclosure index
Derivatives	3.5	Kraken Futures with 322 trading pairs on CoinGecko, a published 50x cap on futures and 5x on margin, 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker at Tier 1 under MiFID and CFTC supervision, not offered to Canada, US and New Zealand customers under the Kraken Futures schedule	Fee schedule, comparison page and CoinGecko
Security and custody	4.5	Proof of reserves since 2014, ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, no breach resulting in loss of client funds by Kraken's own account, two insider incidents of unauthorised access to limited support data affecting about 2,000 accounts disclosed on 13 April 2026 with no funds or keys exposed and an extortion demand refused	Kraken's published statements and CoinDesk reporting
Deposits and withdrawals	5	Direct deposits and withdrawals in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, CHF, JPY, ARS, MXN and BRL, an OTC desk, staking on more than 21 assets	Help centre and fee schedule
Customer support	4	Live chat around the clock with phone support in some cases; timed ticket test not yet run	Platform support pages
Overall	3.7	Average of the six dimensions	Methodology page

What Does Kraken Charge in Fees?

Fees and costs: 2.0 out of 5.

Kraken Pro's cross-platform tiers, introduced on 9 July 2026 and set by the better of 30-day spot volume or assets on platform, start at 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at Tier 1, fall to 0.22% and 0.38% at Tier 3 from $10,000 of volume or $20,000 of assets and to 0.10% and 0.22% at Tier 7 from $250,000 or $400,000, and reach 0% maker only at $10 million of volume, while the Kraken app charges 1% plus a spread on instant buys, Kraken+ waives app fees to $10,000 a month for $4.99 a month, and Kraken Futures charges 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker at Tier 1.

A separate rebate schedule for selected lower-liquidity pairs starts at 0.38% maker and 0.80% taker.

Kraken's in-app Perps product, offered in certain regions, charges 0.25% to open and 0.25% to close on notional, a 0.50% round trip.

The Tier 1 taker rate is the second-highest verified order-book entry rate in this series, and the ladder is the reason the score is 2.0 rather than 1.5, because a $20,000 balance or $10,000 of monthly volume more than halves it.

Our methodology prices the same monthly volume on every platform at the tier a new account actually reaches, so the table below runs three volumes as spot taker orders for a full year.

Monthly spot taker volume	Kraken at the tier or interface reached	MEXC at 0.05%	MEXC with MX deduction at 0.04%
$1,000	$96 a year at Pro Tier 1's 0.80%; about $120 on the app at 1% before the spread	$6 a year	$4.80 a year
$10,000	$960 a year at Pro Tier 1 for the first month, then $456 a year at Tier 3's 0.38% once $10,000 of 30-day volume is reached; about $1,200 on the app before the spread	$60 a year	$48 a year
$50,000	$2,280 a year at Tier 3's 0.38%, or less if volume lifts the account into Tiers 4 to 6, whose rates were not verified in this review	$300 a year	$240 a year

Annual cost at each platform's published tier, verified as of 3 September 2026; Kraken's tier follows its published 30-day volume and asset thresholds; spreads, funding, card fees and network fees are excluded, and MEXC's figures apply to readers outside its restricted markets.

On futures the gap is narrower: $200,000 of monthly notional as taker costs $1,200 a year at Kraken Futures Tier 1's 0.05%, $960 at MEXC's standard 0.040% and $480 on BTCUSDT at the 0.020% Special Rate.

Which of the three layers an account sits on is the question to answer before any of those figures apply, and the free fix for a Kraken customer who wants to stay is to move from the app to Kraken Pro.

How Broad Is Kraken's Asset Coverage?

Asset coverage: 3.0 out of 5.

CoinGecko tracked 717 coins and 1,412 spot pairs on Kraken in early September 2026, CoinGecko's Kraken exchange report shows 66 of its 147 new listings between January and April 2026 were RWA or xStocks products rather than new crypto tokens, and our listing disclosure index records 13 days of delisting notice, a withdrawal window of about three months, and platform liquidation of what remains afterwards with Kraken's own warning that proceeds may be zero.

We do not score platforms on self-reported coin totals, and the tracked CoinGecko number is the one we cite.

Kraken has not stopped listing, but its 2026 pipeline is pointed at tokenized real-world assets rather than new tokens, and its curated list is a deliberate filter that conservative holders may prefer.

The liquidation rule is the number a holder should write down: a delisted coin left untouched for three months is sold by the platform on the holder's behalf, and the proceeds are not guaranteed.

That is the trade-off in one line: a curated venue gives you the token after review, if at all, and disposes of it on a published clock when it leaves.

How Strong Is Kraken for Derivatives?

Derivatives: 3.5 out of 5.

Kraken Futures lists 322 trading pairs on CoinGecko's Kraken Futures page, prices Tier 1 at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker, caps futures leverage at 50x and margin at 5x on its own comparison page, runs under MiFID and CFTC supervision, and is not offered to Canada, US and New Zealand customers under the Kraken Futures schedule, with US clients served through a separately regulated derivatives arm.

The supervised venue structure is the strength, because a derivatives book under MiFID or CFTC oversight is something most offshore platforms cannot offer.

The score sits at 3.5 because the contract count is a fraction of the offshore venues' books, the in-app Perps product charges 0.25% to open and 0.25% to close, and the product is closed to three of Kraken's home markets under its main schedule.

A leverage number without its position band is marketing rather than a specification, and Kraken's published 50x cap is one of the few in this series that needs no such caveat.

For comparison, MEXC runs more than 1,040 USDT-margined perpetual contracts with leverage set per contract, priced at 0.010% maker and 0.040% taker on standard pairs, for readers outside its restricted markets.

Is Kraken Safe? Security, Custody and the April 2026 Extortion Attempt

Security and custody: 4.5 out of 5.

Kraken has published proof of reserves since 2014, holds ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, states that it has never suffered a breach resulting in loss of client funds, and disclosed on 13 April 2026 an extortion attempt tied to two insider incidents in which members of its support team accessed limited data on about 2,000 accounts, with no breach of its systems, no funds or keys exposed, affected users notified and the demand refused, which is a leading custody record with one data mark inside the last year.

CoinDesk reported the disclosure on 13 April 2026, noting that the two incidents involved individuals within Kraken's support team, that about 2,000 accounts were affected, and that Kraken said it had tightened controls and was working with law enforcement.

Kraken's chief security officer stated that the first incident dated to February 2025, when a video circulating on a criminal forum was traced to a support employee whose access was revoked, and that a second similar incident was identified in 2026 with the same response.

Our rule for this dimension is consistent across the series: a clean funds record with attested reserves earns the leading band, and a data incident inside the last two years that exposed no funds or keys and was disclosed and refused holds the score at 4.5 rather than 5.0.

The pattern behind it, support-tier insiders recruited to copy customer data, is the same one that hit a larger US competitor in 2025, and it is the reason no exchange support agent ever needs your two-factor code or your recovery phrase.

Two-factor authentication, Global Settings Lock, withdrawal whitelists and a master key are all available and should all be switched on before an account holds a balance.

For the full incident record across the industry, our crypto exchange hacks database lists 81 breaches with their reimbursement outcomes.

How Easy Are Deposits and Withdrawals on Kraken?

Deposits and withdrawals: 5.0 out of 5.

Kraken supports direct deposits and withdrawals in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, CHF, JPY, ARS, MXN and BRL, runs an OTC desk for large tickets, and offers staking on more than 21 assets, which is the widest set of first-party fiat rails in this series and the dimension where no reader group in its home markets faces a material gap.

If your first step is converting a salary in a bank account into crypto, Kraken is the easiest venue in this series to do it on.

Verification tiers and limits are set per region and shown inside the account, and identity verification is required before funding, as on every licensed venue in this series.

Third-party review sites carry a large volume of complaints about verification delays, and our methodology does not count aggregate star ratings, so those complaints are noted here rather than scored.

What Is Kraken Customer Support Like?

Customer support: 4.0 out of 5.

Kraken publishes live chat around the clock with phone support in some cases, and we have capped the score at 4.0 until our own timed ticket test runs, because a published channel is a promise and a timed reply is a measurement.

Our rule is one non-urgent ticket per platform per review cycle, timed from submission to a reply that answers the question, and Kraken's test is scheduled for the next cycle.

One practical note belongs here because the search results for Kraken support are full of fake numbers and because of the April 2026 incident: support should be reached only through the app or the help centre, and no agent needs your two-factor code.

Kraken Benefits and Limitations

Benefits

Licences in the four markets where most offshore venues hold none: an FCA registration, two MiCA authorisations from the Central Bank of Ireland, Canadian Restricted Dealer registration and US state licences with a Wyoming bank charter.
Fourteen years of operation, proof of reserves since 2014, ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and no breach resulting in loss of client funds.
Direct fiat rails in ten currencies, an OTC desk and live chat around the clock.
Commission-free trading of 11,000 or more real stocks and ETFs for US clients inside the same app as their crypto.

Limitations

A Pro Tier 1 rate of 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker, an app rate of 1% plus spread, and a 0% maker rate that only arrives at $10 million of volume.
A curated catalogue of 717 tracked coins with a 2026 pipeline pointed at RWA and xStocks products, and platform liquidation of delisted coins after about three months.
Two insider data incidents affecting about 2,000 accounts, disclosed in April 2026 with no funds exposed.
Kraken Futures closed to Canada, US and New Zealand customers under its main schedule, and xStocks closed to the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

Who Kraken Is For, and Who Should Look Elsewhere

Kraken is the right pick for US, UK, EEA and Canadian traders who want a licensed venue with bank rails in their own currency and are willing to climb Pro's tiers or hold $20,000 on platform, and it is the wrong pick for fee-sensitive traders who stay at Tier 1, for altcoin hunters, and for anyone who leaves delisted coins untouched.

Kraken is the right pick if:

You live in the United States, the United Kingdom, the EEA or Canada and want an exchange licensed or registered where you live.
You fund from a bank account in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, CHF, JPY, ARS, MXN or BRL and value direct rails over trading cost.
You hold enough on platform or trade enough volume to sit at Tier 3 or above on Kraken Pro.

Look elsewhere if:

You trade small size at Tier 1, where 0.80% taker is the second-highest order-book entry rate in this series.
You want tokens that a curated list of 717 will not reach, or new listings on day one.
You want perpetuals in Canada, the US or New Zealand, where Kraken Futures does not serve you under its main schedule.

Readers in the first group who want a second licensed option can read our comparison of Coinbase alternatives, which covers the other fiat-rail exchanges on the same data standard.

Readers in the second group who live outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EEA, Singapore and Hong Kong can compare MEXC's published rates in the section below, and our comparison of Kraken alternatives covers seven platforms.

The MEXC View

MEXC operates a competing exchange, and this section is where our own position is stated rather than implied.

Kraken beats MEXC on licences, on custody record and certifications, on fiat rails, and on real stocks for US clients, and for a US, UK, EEA or Canadian resident those four points settle the question before fees enter it, because MEXC does not onboard residents of those markets at all.

Where MEXC is the answer, for readers outside its restricted markets, is the entry-tier fee line and the listing pace.

A spot taker moving $10,000 a month pays about $1,200 a year on Kraken's app before the spread, $960 at Pro Tier 1 and $456 at Tier 3, and $60 at MEXC's 0.05% standard taker rate, or $48 with the MX deduction, and a spot maker at the same volume pays $480 a year at Kraken Pro Tier 1's 0.40% and $0 at MEXC's published maker rate.

On listings, CoinGecko tracked 1,633 coins on MEXC against 717 on Kraken, and CoinGecko's 2026 perpetuals report counted 879 new perpetual contracts on MEXC between January 2025 and April 2026, the most of any major centralised exchange.

On stocks the two platforms serve opposite readers: Kraken's 11,000 or more commission-free stocks are for US clients only, while MEXC RealStocks gives eligible non-US users real shares across more than 7,000 US stocks and ETFs paid for in USDT.

Two boundaries keep the fee claim honest.

The zero applies to spot maker orders and to web and app futures orders, not to API-routed futures, which MEXC prices at 0.060% maker and 0.080% taker, and the 0.020% futures figure is a Special Rate on BTCUSDT rather than MEXC's standard 0.040% taker.

And the saving is available only to readers outside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the EEA, Singapore and Hong Kong, which excludes most of Kraken's customer base.

MEXC's fiat access runs through third-party routes and P2P rather than ten direct currencies, MEXC holds none of the licences named in this review, and its most common complaint in third-party reviews, which Kraken's own comparison page also raises, is risk-control reviews that delay withdrawals, so a test withdrawal comes before moving size.

Our review desk's verdict is that Kraken is the exchange we would send a licensed-market holder with a bank account to, MEXC is the exchange we would send an offshore altcoin trader with stablecoins to, and no fee table should talk a reader out of the platform that is licensed where they live.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same Kraken as the headset brand?

No, this review covers the crypto exchange operated by Payward, which is unrelated to the gaming headset, water-cooling and rum brands that share the name.

Kraken the exchange was founded in 2011 and holds licences in the US, UK, EEA and Canada.

Is Kraken safe to use in 2026?

Kraken has published proof of reserves since 2014 and states that it has never suffered a breach resulting in loss of client funds.

It scores 4.5 out of 5 on security and custody, with an April 2026 insider data incident affecting about 2,000 accounts and no funds exposed.

Was Kraken hacked?

No breach of Kraken's systems has been reported; on 13 April 2026 it disclosed an extortion attempt tied to two support-team insiders who accessed limited data on about 2,000 accounts.

No funds, passwords or keys were exposed, and Kraken refused to pay.

Is Kraken legit and regulated?

Yes, Kraken is an FCA-registered cryptoasset firm, holds two MiCA authorisations from the Central Bank of Ireland, is a Restricted Dealer in Canada, and holds US state licences with a Wyoming bank charter.

Regulatory standing is disclosed in this review and not scored.

What are Kraken's fees?

Kraken Pro Tier 1 is 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker under the tiers introduced on 9 July 2026, falling to 0.22% and 0.38% at Tier 3 from $10,000 of 30-day volume or $20,000 of assets.

The app charges 1% plus a spread on instant buys, and Kraken Futures charges 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker.

What is the difference between Kraken and Kraken Pro?

The app quotes a price with a spread inside it and charges 1% on instant and recurring trades, while Kraken Pro is an order book with tiered maker and taker fees and no spread.

Kraken+ waives app fees to $10,000 a month for $4.99 a month, and Pro trades are excluded from it.

How does Kraken compare with MEXC?

Kraken leads on licences, custody record, fiat rails and US stocks for US clients, while MEXC publishes 0% maker and 0.05% taker on spot and tracks 1,633 coins on CoinGecko against 717.

Readers outside the US, UK, Canada, EEA, Singapore and Hong Kong can compare the full fee stack across platforms in our exchange fee comparison.

Risk and Compliance Notice

Trading cryptocurrencies involves substantial risk, and derivatives and leveraged products can produce losses greater than the amount deposited.

Nothing on this page is financial, investment, legal or tax advice.

MEXC operates a competing exchange; no platform can buy a score or a ranking position on MEXC Learn.

MEXC is not available in every jurisdiction and is not authorised under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation; readers in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong should use a platform authorised by their local regulator.

Always confirm current terms on a platform's own official pages before opening an account or placing a trade.

本文由Sarah Chen提供，仅供参考，不构成任何财务或投资建议。加密货币市场风险较高，请在投资前进行独立研究或咨询合格的专业人士。文中观点不一定代表 MEXC 或其关联方的立场。