What is Kraken?
Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, and trade various digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and many other cryptocurrencies.
It was founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell, with the Kraken exchange going live in September 2013.
Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges and is known for its global reach and lack of significant controversies, making it a favourite among retail and institutional investors worldwide.
Where is Kraken based?
The Kraken exchange is based in San Francisco, California.
However, Kraken also has offices in Japan, Great Britain, and Singapore.
Who created Kraken?
The Kraken exchange was founded by Jesse Powell, who served as its CEO until late 2022 when he became the company’s first chairman of the board. Longtime COO Dave Ripley has since taken charge as CEO.
In the beginning, Powell allegedly decided to start the project after being hired as a consultant on the Mt. Gox crypto exchange. The Mt. Gox exchange would collapse less than six months after the launch of the Kraken exchange, with Mt. Gox being hacked in February 2014 and forced to liquidate in April 2014. There, Powell anticipated the company’s collapse and foresaw the need for an alternative after its fall.
Is Kraken legit?
The Kraken exchange is one of the oldest exchanges online, surviving without major hacks since its launch. As far as crypto exchanges go, Kraken is generally seen as one of the safer options available.
Having learned from the failures of Mt. Gox, Kraken holds 95% of its funds in cold storage. This means funds are stored offline, disconnected from the internet, and in different parts of the planet to ensure a major hack of their funds is much harder to achieve.
Kraken boasts over 9 million clients, supports 190+ countries, and has a quarterly trading volume exceeding $200 billion. So while it is never advised to keep your money on any exchange long-term, it also currently doesn’t seem like Kraken is disappearing anytime soon either.
Pros and Cons of Kraken
The pros of the Kraken exchange
- Their selection of cryptocurrencies
- Generally strong security practices
- Never been a target of a hack
- Extensive support page
Having been with us for a decade, Kraken is considered among the best crypto exchanges available.
The cons of Kraken
- High fees when using the instant buy/sell buttons
- A moderate level of technical and financial literacy is required to use their cheaper but more advanced trading features.
However, should you be comfortable with more advanced trading features, then Kraken may be the exchange for you.
How to deposit money on Kraken
To add money to the Kraken exchange,
- Make an account and Go to Funding tab
- First, create an account.
- Once you’ve created an account, go to My Account in the top right corner.
- Next, from the banner along the top click the Funding tab
- From the Funding tab, Deposit should be highlighted in blue on the right-hand side.
- Deposit currency
- Click Deposit and select US Dollar, our example currency for this Kraken review.
- You can now enter the amount you wish to deposit.
- Select your deposit method, in this case, we are selecting Signature Bank (SWIFT.) It will bring up the bank details of where to deposit your funds.
- Copy the bank details
- Go to your mobile banking app or banking webpage, enter your account, and locate where to transfer funds.
- Once there, copy the required bank details from Kraken’s deposit page.
- At the time of writing, this was:
- Name: Payward Trading Ltd.
- Address: Trinity Chambers, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, VG1110
- Bank Account: 1504141221
- Bank Name: Signature Bank
- SWIFT: SIGNUS33XXX
- Bank/Branch Address: 565 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017
- Reference: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
- Warning, for the funds to reach your account you will need to do this process yourself to generate your unique reference number.
- At the time of writing, this was:
If making multiple deposits over a short period, send varying amounts to avoid potential delays
Importantly, the name on your bank account must match the name on your Kraken account.
How to short on Kraken
Short selling is the act of borrowing assets that you believe will decline in value before the loan is due to be repaid. If you can borrow an asset that you believe will decline in value, you can sell this borrowed asset now for another that you believe will hold its value. Then, when the debt repays, you use the asset holding value to buy back the asset you borrowed but at a cheaper market price.
This allows you to keep the difference as profit.
- Go to Kraken Pro Dashbodrd
- To short on the Kraken exchange, you must first go to the trading tab.
- Second, you’ll need to click on the small graph icon near the top right of the webpage. This will take you to Kraken Pro Dashboard.
- Third, click the + icon under the sign-out tab in the top right.
- Select Leverage
- Select the pair you are looking to short. In this Kraken review, we’ll use the ETH/USD pair.
- To create a sell order, go to the trading tab on the right-hand side of the screen.
- Under action select Sell.
- Next, under Type, you want Limit.
- Under Leverage, select the amount you are looking to borrow. Available leverage amounts can be found on the Kraken website.
- Caution, leveraging can cause liquidation – 2x leverage means you’re borrowing 100% additional assets for your trade which must be repaid. Make sure you understand this before using leveraged trading features.
- Set Sell
- Then, under Funds enter either an amount or percentage of your total ETH holdings.
- Then, set your Price.
- To short sell, this price will be lower than its current market price.
- The Total tab will now tell you the total value of your position.
- Next click Review & Sell.
- Once you have reviewed and are happy to proceed, click Confirm Sell to finalise your short-selling position on the Kraken exchange.
- Review order
- Finally, to review your order, in the bottom right you will now see your sell order under the Orders tab.
- Here, you will also find a cancel button on the right side of the order, should you wish you cancel the sell order you have just created.
How to withdraw from Kraken
To withdraw from the Kraken exchange, you first must sell your crypto into your local currency. So, let’s imagine the Dogecoin and Bitcoin we bought earlier have increased in value, and we now would like to withdraw into local currency. For this Kraken review, we’ll stick with USD.
- Go to Buy Crypto
- Selling your crypto into USD can be done through the Buy Crypto button at the top.
- Click Sell
- On the left-hand side, you will now see Sell. Click Sell and enter the amount you would like to sell. This is for immediate selling.
- If you would like to sell at a specific price, this can be done through the Trading tab.
- On the left-hand side, you will now see Sell. Click Sell and enter the amount you would like to sell. This is for immediate selling.
- Withdraw
- Once sold into USD, to withdraw to your bank account, go to the Funding tab and find USD from the Account Balances.
- Click on the Withdraw button to the right of this currency.
- This will take you to the withdrawal page, where you can select the bank account you added earlier.
- Confirm
- After selecting your bank account from the Bank Account dropdown box, you should now be able to enter an amount and see any fees included at the bottom.
- Next hit Review Withdrawal, and if happy to proceed, click Confirm.
FAQs
Where is Kraken located?
The Kraken exchange is located in San Francisco, California. It also has offices in Japan, Great Britain, and Singapore.
Is Kraken legit?
The Kraken exchange is among the longest-surviving crypto exchanges, outside newsworthy hacks since its launch. Therefore, it is seen as a safe platform. 95% of Kraken funds are in cold storage offline to safeguard against an alarming hack. Kraken has over 9 million users, trading in 190+ countries, and a quarterly trading volume passing $200 billion.
How long does Kraken verification take?
Once you provide the verification details, it’ll take a day or two for your account to become fully verified. To get verified, attempt to buy, sell, or deposit currency on the platform and you will be informed you need to be verified before doing so.
First, it will ask you to input your occupation – or any occupation, if you would rather keep that information private. Next, you’ll need to upload a copy of your driver’s license, passport, or ID card. Then, you’ll need some proof of residence. This can be a utility bill, bank statement, credit card statement, or proof of residency certificate.How to buy Dogecoin on Kraken
The quickest way to buy Dogecoin on the Kraken exchange is with your bank card. For this part of our Kraken review, we will use Dogecoin.
To add funds to your new Kraken account, you must first add a card. The quickest way to add a card is to click Buy on the left-hand side of the Buy Crypto tab. Once you click Buy, it will prompt you to select a cryptocurrency.
Once you click Dogecoin, it will take you to the Add A Card screen. Click Add A Card, enter your info, and then press Continue. Now enter the amount of Dogecoin you would like to purchase and hit Review. A confirmation screen will appear informing you of the current conversion rate, along with a breakdown of the amount and fees.
If happy, press Confirm and the transaction will complete.How to fund Kraken account with USD
To fund your Kraken exchange account with USD, sign into your account and go to the Funding tab at the top(USD should appear by default in the Account Balances section.) On the right-hand side, you will see either an up and down arrow or the words Deposit and Withdraw.
To fund your Kraken account we will be clicking Deposit. Next, enter the amount you would like to deposit and sign into your online banking. Now you need to set up a transfer and enter the Bank Details that Kraken has provided along with your unique Reference number.
