Kraken is one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Canada today. Founded in San Francisco in 2011, Kraken has a number of features users love, including an excellent mobile app and top-notch security across its entire platform.
Kraken also charges the lowest fees of any crypto exchange in Canada, which makes it an excellent choice for Canadian crypto investors. If you're looking to buy Bitcoin or any of 100+ other cryptocurrencies, Kraken is a great way to do it.
What Is Kraken?
Founded in 2011 in San Francisco, Kraken is one of the most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. With over 9 million customers and $200 billion in quarterly trading volume, Kraken offers a wide range of features, including:
- A secure trading platform: Kraken uses industry-leading security measures to protect its users' funds. Kraken is also insured by Lloyd's of London for up to $100 million.
- Deep liquidity:Â Kraken has deep liquidity, which means there's always plenty of buyers and sellers trading on Kraken. This makes it easy to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at competitive prices, and keeps spreads to an absolute minimum. For example, spreads on Bitcoin on Kraken are generally $0.10, which is about 0.0002% at today's prices. Other crypto exchanges in Canada have spreads in the range of 2%, which is 10,000x higher.
- A wide range of cryptocurrencies:Â Kraken supports over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dogecoin. Kraken also offers trading pairs for a variety of fiat currencies, including CAD, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD and CHF.
- 24/7 customer support:Â Kraken offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email. This makes it easy to get help if you have any problems with the exchange.
Let's look at a few of these features more closely.
Kraken Features
1. Easy To Use Interface
The Kraken platform has a simple and user-friendly interface. It understands the needs of newcomers to the cryptocurrency market and offers them a simple, approachable way to trade.
Even if you haven't had any experience as a crypto investor, you'll still find Kraken's platform extremely easy to use. Trading crypto with Kraken only takes a couple of clicks, and with millions of people using Kraken, they've put in the time to make their platform simple yet powerful for every type of user.
2. Kraken Customer Support
Kraken has an extensive FAQ section on its website, but it also provides customer service in many ways, including email, phone, through its Support Center, and 24/7 live chat.
Kraken also has a strong social media presence, so you can contact them through various social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit. Kraken unofficially offers customer support on all of these platforms, so you can get an answer from a member of their team wherever you are online.
My favourite thing about Kraken's customer support is how easy it is to reach someone on the phone. Kraken has a US-based phone support team, so reaching a real person in your timezone is easy and often takes 60 seconds or less.
Cryptocurrencies on Kraken
Kraken has a very wide array of supported cryptocurrencies, supporting over 100 different digital assets. These include:
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Moonriver (MOVR) |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | PAX Gold (PAXG) |
| Ethereum (ETH) | Polkadot (DOT) |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | Ripple (XRP) |
| Cardano (ADA) | Shiba Inu (SHIB) |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) | Solana (SOL) |
| Chainlink (LINK) | USD Coin (USDC) |
| Balancer (BAL) | Yearn Finance (YFI) |
| Axie Infinity (AXS) | Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) |
| Aave (AAVE) | Uniswap (UNI) |
| Curve (CRV) | Badger DAO (BADGER) |
| Compound (COMP) | Algorand (ALGO) |
| Kyber Network (KNC) | Basic Attention Token (BAT) |
| Litecoin (LTC) | Decentraland (MANA) |
| Monero (XMR) | EOS (EOS) |
Kraken's Fees
Kraken has very low fees, with transaction fees that range from 0% to 0.26% per trade. Most trades will cost you 0.16%, which is significantly less than the 1% – 2.5% you'll pay with other Canadian crypto exchanges.
Depositing and withdrawing money is generally free with Kraken as well, making Kraken significantly cheaper than the other Canadian exchanges. However, keep in mind that you'll incur a 3.75% fee for credit card purchases, and a 0.5% fee for Interac e-transfer deposits.
In Summary
Kraken is a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and bank that was founded in 2011 and allows you to trade fiat currencies (including CAD and USD) for cryptocurrencies and vice-versa. It's a great exchange with low fees that's ideal for Canadian users.
To get started with Kraken, click the button below to open your account.
Kraken FAQs
How can I withdraw money from Kraken?
Withdrawing funds from Kraken is just like with other exchanges like VirgoCX and Bitbuy. You just need to follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Kraken account.
- Click Funding and then Withdraw..
- Select the currency you want to withdraw, choose a Funding Provider, and request your withdrawal.
- Select a bank account from the drop-down menu.
- Enter the amount of currency you want to withdraw and click Review Withdrawal.
- Click Confirm Withdrawal.
Is Kraken safe?
Yes, Kraken is a safe and reliable crypto exchange. Like other exchanges we've reviewed—including Newton, Shakepay, VirgoCX, Bitbuy and Wealthsimple Crypto—Kraken has never been hacked, unlike other big names like Binance, which has been hacked several times. Kraken also provides various levels of protection for its users, including 2-factor authentication and $100 million in insurance on user funds.
Is Kraken legal in Canada?
Yes, Kraken is legal to use in Canada. However, even though the exchange is legal to use in Canada, do keep in mind that Canadian crypto users cannot trade Ethereum tokens that have been staked for Ethereum 2.0, and crypto futures trades are banned for Ontario users.
Does Kraken have a referral code?
No, Kraken does not offer its users referral codes. Here's a list of crypto signup bonuses in Canada, though you won't find Kraken on that list.
Does Kraken report to the CRA?
No, Kraken does not report to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Since Kraken is a U.S.-based crypto exchange, it is not required to report its users' transactions to the CRA.
