Kraken
reviews and complaints

It is less painful pulling teeth without any anesthetic than dealing with there customer service. Twice now I have been denied withdrawal. I have been back and forth to their CS team, who are clearly untrained in customer empathy, don't really care, and have no sense of urgency. Don’t ever have an issue bc they will pass you around and never address your issue!

First time they messed up was when they ask me to identify myself to upgrade my account. Their email said it would be approved a couple days but it took over 2 months and they denied me without giving me a reason even tho my documents were legit (selfie with license and a note on the side)

Second time they contacted me asking for a proof of funds. A note from my bank, or 2 years of paystubs, letter from my accountant etc. i dont have any of those and threatened to freeze my account until i provided them proof of funds document. Looks like my account will be frozen because i dont have that. Binance never did this to me except the selfie and license. Kraken is garbage and crooks

Kraken is the better crypto exchange when compared to Coinbase. Their fees are much lower, they offer (arguably) better assets to purchase/hold and you can stake/unstake assets like Kava in a matter of seconds. Also their customer service is leaps and bounds better when compared to Coinbase. However, they do have some improvements to make with their platform and app. I’d like to see some Face ID capability come to the app, I’d like to be able to stake/unstake my assets directly from the app and I’d like to be able to make instant bank transfers which is something that makes Coinbase super attractive for many folks. Keep working hard Kraken team because I want to see you beat out the other guys!

Wow! I really love this app. Of all the exchanges, I think Kraken and Coinbase have the simplest, user-friendly UI. But Kraken is better because it has lower fees! I use Kraken to deposit fiat and then I use Kraken Pro to buy whatever crypto I want. Both apps are synced so your portfolio is always easy to access.

However, I really wish that Kraken had the option to stake your crypto through the app. Currently this feature is only available on the website, but it is a very important aspect of crypto trading! Other exchanges allow you to stake through their app so I know it’s possible! I would really appreciate if you guys would add that feature to your app. If you do, my score will be 5 stars easily.

On the initial app startup the welcome screen informed me I would need an email and to make a user name and password to verify my identity. I’m not a fan of lacking transparency so Here is the actual list:

Username/pw/email
Address
State drivers license picture
DOB
SSN
Picture of utility statement with name & address
Immediate selfie

All upon which Kraken will get back to you after further verifying. All this information given out is enough to make a person nervous that should there be a disgruntled employee or an organized hack a lot of individuals will be super screwed. I’m not a fan of the high demand for personal identifying information, especially without any explanation as to why so much was necessary.

Opened my account for less than a week, did a transfer of crypto worth of ~$80 for an educational video and then I was asked by Kraken to close my account without providing any reason or explanation!
Update: Received a response from the developer explaining (like customer service) that for “security reasons” they cannot disclose the reason my account was closed. I am not sure what kind of “security” service Kraken is running that is able to confirm identify (after all those steps) and “open an account” for a user but can not disclose the security reason for “account closure” for the same user! This unidirectional logic is seriously flawed to my opinion. I’ve discouraged many in my circle of friend against using this app for this very reason.

I loved Kraken for the approx 6 weeks I used it until I didn’t. They do not warn or prompt you when depositing cryptos that a minimum is required (different minimums for different crypto). A transaction to Kraken from an external wallet failed because I was 0.01775 short of the minimum (which I HAD in my external wallet and would have sent had I been notified before the attempted transfer). Spent an hour with customer service for them to give me $10 in future trading fees credits (>1/3 of the transaction that was lost which they wouldn’t refund me for).

I proceeded to unstake all my assets and will be exclusively using Coinbase as my centralized exchange from here on out. Unfortunately I can not transfer my staked ETH so it’s sadly stuck on this app. My only advice to the team: ADD THE WARNING TO HELP POOR USERS IN THE FUTURE!

I am new to Kraken, just downloaded just so I can buy Shib Inu. I already hold over 300 million on webull but I wanted to support it on kraken as well. I apply payed $100 of Shib Inu just to test it out before I put more money on it and it took my money but never gave me my Shib. I contacted support and was told the order didn’t process “correctly” due to volatility or a few other reasons it could have been. But it would take 7 days to get my money back. So what do you get when you have a exchange that takes your money hostage and doesn’t give you or report the numbers that Shib should be receiving because I was going to buy so much more and I’m only 1 person. If the 4 million people tried to buy at least 1 million and they take all their money and don’t exchange the Crypto that to me seems like manipulation. I don’t recommend this to anyone

This app is a scam, they emailed me to sell my crypto and cash out. They never told me a reason why I had to do all that. I told them I had bought crypto and pretty high and I am down a lot. Kraken told me “sorry for your inconvenience” but you have to sell your crypto and cash out. Again never tell me why. There are plenty of other great crypto apps. Use those instead and the costumer service for Kraken is horrible. Stay away.

Update. 5/27/22

They contacted me and didn’t resolve the issue. Garbage company. Stay far away from this company. You have better and best options available than this scam garbage. Crypto.com
Binance.us Voyager.com Gemini.com Coinbase.com FTX.com and all these platforms are amazing, fees to buy stuff is not that much either. Save yourself some time and stay away from this scam, sooner or later they will close your account and you won’t be able to do anything to get your funds back.

My wife opened an account and deposited money which was stolen immediately. Kraken told her it was her fault. Kraken should have a better security in place to protect accounts. Total scam. Be careful. Kraken doesn’t protect your account. Not sure why people leave good reviews. Probably bots leave 5 stars to promote their illegal activities. If you don’t want to lose money don’t do business with Kraken.

Update: Kreken’s response is so unprofessional to say the least. Sorry for inconvenience? We are talking about $1000 here. Instead of saying sorry for inconvenience, try to help us return the money hackers or who knows who stole using your insecure platform.

Again those 5 star reviews seems to me come from bots to allure more naive people to trust their money with your app.

Lastly, when responding to good reviews you write their names and when responding to negative reviews you’re using Hi or Hello as if those who write truth don’t deserve to be called by their names. So pathetic.

#1, I did a lot of research to make sure Kraken is a safe exchange for me to buy crypto from. I’ve tried so many crypto apps to see if they were smooth to navigate and just straightforward to use, but nothing really pleased me because they were either hard to use, horrible design, untrustworthy, or combination of things. Then I discovered the new Kraken app and I fell in love with it from day 1! Coinbase has a nice design but the fees are way too much, Voyager, the app I’m currently using is also a clean app, but they are not very clear with their fees and the design is not as nice as this Kraken app. Also, Voyager has horrible customer service
so that’s another reason I wanted to get away from them. I wanted to use the Kraken app from day 1 but there was an issue with ACH funding but i contacted them and they fixed everything in less than a day. so from today on, I’m good to go with Kraken as my main. I’m so happy for finding the most beautiful, safe crypto app. This took monthssss thank you for a great app

I use Binance.US and Coinbase and have had no problems with either. I decided to try this kraken app this morning. I go through verification, normal upload of ID, deposit my money and buy some Bitcoin. They take there chunk of fees and then place a 72 hour hold on my funds. Fine. Then I get an email that for no reason at all, they are closing my account?!? And I have 72 hours to withdraw my money or it’s gone?!? Well guess what, I can’t withdraw my money because it’s on a 72 hour hold. So they are basically robbing me. Do not I repeat DO NOT use this app. Looks like this is a common practice they have after looking at reviews. Bunch of thieves.

UPDATE: developer wrote on my review to email them my ticket and they’d look into it. Well I emailed them just to get a reply that they already told me they can’t disclose why they are closing my account and that I have basically an hour window on the 16th to withdraw my funds before they close it for good. The stupid developer review writer tries to make it seem like they are so happy and understanding and want nothing more than to help you, then in reality they do nothing to help at all. Do not use this app. I recommend binance or Coinbase.

I really like this app,it’s easy to use,easy to navigate..I Downloaded the App on the 9th of September. I set up the account,linked my bank,bought 20 bucks worth of DogeCoin. Everything is going smooth,I’m loving it. The Next day, on the 10th, I attempted to buy the Cardano (ADA) coin. It says “It Is Not Possible To Buy ADA With USD”, mind you I’m new to Crypto,this is my first time engaging in this market. So in my mind I’m thinking “Ok,maybe this coin doesn’t accept USD yet”. No big deal, I’ll just find a different coin to buy. I go check out other coins, and it’s saying the same thing. I go take a look at Bitcoin and Etherium, two of the most popular coins and it’s saying the same thing. I think to myself,”that can’t be right”. So I go back to look at DogeCoin again,the coin I bought just the day before with no issue, and it’s saying the same thing... so I call Customer service.. great Customer service by the way,I wish I had the guy’s name,he was very helpful and patient..but unfortunately we couldn’t figure out why my account was not accepting USD. He sent the issue up to the specialist for the app,but they never got back to me...so now I’m in the process of deactivating my account and trying to see if I can get my money so I can move on to a different platform , I genuinely think it’s a good app,and I hope others are having a better experience with it,but if I can’t purchase anything on there with USD,I don’t see the point in having it.

Just wish they would let me trade leverage :( dang government! I hate that the government can come in and change something that was amazing. I was trading with a leveraged account, but now I have to have 10 million in capital before I can trade a measly 5x. Geeeeez

Thank you kraken for the time that you were allowed to give me a splendid user experience.

But I give kraken a 5 star review because their companion applications are seamless between the two apps, without the need to transfer asset between apps or folders (coinbase and coinbase pro I hate this), so if I just want to grab 100 or 50 in crypto, I can just hit kraken. If I want to trade my account actively, then kraken pro is amazing too.

I honestly love how I can refresh my assets in kraken and see real-time price movement in my total assets amount. I like the way it is displayed, and I love how I can get a quick mindless view at the price action for the day. I like how it is a great view of your assets, and then you can easily see the price (on pay day) to see if you want to “buy the dip”. I like how easily Apple Pay and kraken make it to quickly make a preset 50, 100, etc purchase to add to your investment. It’s just easy without having to go and “deposit USD” to your crypto and then to make the trade. That’s stupid coinbase. But the main thing is krakens website is also second to none. Their phone app is amazing, but their website Normal and Pro are even more amazing for traders. I have always had an exciting experience trading here because of the great user interface and applications they have provided.

Wonderful platform for first time traders.

First of all getting your account verified with them is like pulling teeth. At first you’ll sign up with your basic info, great, seems easy. They may or may not send you a welcome email. If you don’t get one might as well give up and save your time because getting support is chatting with a real agent, which sounds great, but the agents cannot help with anything they just open a ticket. If you do get that welcome email, good for you, you passed their test. Second, they will push down your throat every time you log in, “ buy Bitcoin!” Okay so you do. Now you have to wait 72 hours because without proper PRIOR notice you didn’t know they would do this. But fine you understand security is important. So you wait. 72 hours go by and you check your account. Your money is STILL on hold. You open a ticket. Now you have to wait 48 hours to get a reply. AND you have to send them a selfie holding your ID and a HANDWRITTEN letter. Makes you feel like you’re kidnapped and asking for ransom. So now you’re waiting 5 days for nothing. They finally release your funds. You decide, I want to spend some of MY money so you transfer a bit to your other wallet. Your transfer is placed on hold. You open another ticket that requires another 48 hour response time. And by the way they also have chosen to close your account FOR NO REASON AT ALL. It seems like they manually pick and choose who will get vetted more than others. This website is bull. They should not be in the fast moving business of crypto and should change their name to SNAIL because KRAKENS are big and mighty and that they are not. Use other exchanges and save your time and money. Don’t be kidnapped by their bull like I was.

Kraken is very simple to use as an app. It is sufficient to use the app for everything without the browser version. Transactions are completed in a few clicks and instantaneous. Linking payment methods for currency onboarding or direct crypto purchases is a snap. Using 2-factor authentication with Authy is seamless. The Authy app opens automatically with a transaction you start in Kraken app for verification and you simply click on the Authy approval you are authorizing the transaction. No more cutting and pasting codes over and over again every transaction. I like it allows you to store frequently used addresses to your other accounts securely in the app (this requires registering the address once and any new change or address requires email verification from you, the user).

Want to transfer your crypto out immediately after purchase to DeFi or cold wallet? This is the only exchange I can say allows it virtually every time besides Coinbase—which is more expensive for transactions. This is so reliable that any purchases I want to do fast and then send to buy crypto on other DeFi platforms almost always start with Kraken. I can buy USDT and have it on MEXC or any number of exchanges in seconds.

Contrast this to Gemini, Crypto.com, Binance, and others where you can literally have purchases locked up for days to weeks before you can act on them to engage market movements. Think you are going to jump in on a signal on a secondary token or coin—not with these other central exchanges. Kraken solves this problem. You can get your cryptocurrency, be on your way, in on a trade, and even out if minutes.

This exchange clearly is built and used by people who purchase and trade cryptocurrency, and they just “get it”.

The only downside, I would say to some, will be the number of coins is not as robust as other platforms like Binance, Bitfinex, and so on. This to me; however, is not a negative—most of the time I am buying tokens and coins on DeFi, with lower transaction costs, after onboarding a stable coin or primary crypto like Fantom, Avalanche, and so on. You can get anywhere from here.

The other thing is those tokens with proven track records get listed here. You will not have a gazillion junk tokens with similar names crowding you and potentially causing errors or worrying you about liquidity the exchange has to have (or may have) to cover market movements on thousands of these junk tokens any number of people are shilling.

I have tried dozens of apps and exchanges and each have their uses. My go to is Kraken.

I had a Bitcoin investment and was told in order to receive it I needed to open a Kraken account and deposit $1500 CAD and complete a buy and sell transaction to activate the account and within a few minutes I would be refunded and also receive my bitcoin investment. After I did this I didn't hear from them for a over a week, then I received a phone call stating they needed another $2000 CAD and then I would receive the money back within 15 minutes with along with my bitcoin investment. After 15 minutes they called back and said they needed $8000 more, but I refused, then they closed my account and stole all my money.

I asked a team member to assist me with my withdrawal of my funds from my Kraken account. I was told another team member had to help me and wait for an email. I spoke to six team members, countless emails. I spent over 30 hours so far trying to get the status of my funds from Kraken. My bank has allowed Kraken to use my bank information to deposit my funds. I was gas lighted by the team members and Kraken. I still have not since Sunday received my funds. I have reported Kraken to the FTC and will continue to report Kraken to multiple agencies for their fraud and unethical business practices. I will not stop! When I bought crypto Kraken took my money in less than 10 seconds. It is over 30 hours since I asked for my withdrawal money from Kraken. I still have no received my money. I hope other victims will report Kraken as well. I hope they get fined and shut down for fraud!

I made several deposits totaling, $99,026.81. There were several trades made I was told I can withdraw my money anytime, but now I am being told I had to wait 15 days until things are settled before I can withdraw the money deposited and any investments made. I went to my Defi Wallet and the money is all gone. There is no explanation as to why I can't see the funds like I used to. The company or whoever works for them have all my money.

I have been getting What's App messages from the people who I was working with, but all they are doing is stringing me along.

I want all of my money that was deposited and any investments I was told I earned. I kept screen shots of all transactions, but now the money is nowhere to be found.

BP

I have tried to withdrawl my money 3 times to 2 different bank account which failed 3 time, while being charged 16usd for every try,

They told my banks have rejected the transfer, but when I contacted both of my banks They have told me No transactions were maid whatsoever,

I followed all the guidlines but They just wont let me withdrawl my funds while charging 16usd for every try,

I downloaded this exchange app because I was trying to buy XRP but is not available. And I noticed the price is super high and that’s because this exchange doesn’t support ACH. They accept Apple Pay, but the fee is ridiculous. Fir example if I want to buy BTC for $1000 the fee for Apple Pay is $51.98 and for debit card is $19.71 that’s insane…. I will prefer Binance.US, because they accept ACH and the fee is very low, only $5.00 for buying $1000 and also I have Coinbase, which the fees are reasonable.

I’m a new kraken user and I’ve never had a harder time funding an account. My current bank was not compatible with trustly to setup ACH. I opened a new bank account listed by kraken but it could not be linked. I opened a 3rd bank account that linked but is now being rejected by your ach processor with zero explanation provided. How about you tell me which bank I can actually link?!?!?! Sending a wire to fund my kraken account is just too inconvenient and costly. It’s been an overall frustrating experience.

Signed up ... Deposited $1000 ... Doesn't show up in my wallet...customer support was of no help ... Kept telling me to wait ... And then to verify my info...7 days after the initial deposit...I did it and I was informed that I am blacklisted on app and will not have access to it and they won't release any other information due to privacy policy.
They won't give any explanation or try to work with you to resolve the issue not listen to you.

Just horrible experience.
I

Still waiting on that $1000 refund.

I had planned on using Kraken as my main coin mover but they shut me down after only 2 transactions even though I went through all the security hoops they asked me to. They don’t even provide an explanation. Don’t get comfy using this app.

They tried to act like they give a crap by posting a response to this review. I contacted them again and got the same weak response. If they are closing my account for security purposes they need to tell me what those purposes are so that I am not compromised. It’s all garbage.

I’m tired of being taken advantage of. This is my money and I need it now. There is no reason you should hold my money. Say someone gets ahold of my card and buys 5k in furniture. The purchase is done. I dispute it and move on. This shows bad trading practices and they are probably trading shares instantly with your money that you deposit that same day. They are happy to take your money and make it their own for 3 days until they can pay you back. I would look elsewhere unless you need something obscure like dash coin

I’m all for good security, but when you can’t access your account because of it what’s the point? I recently moved so my IP address changed. I log in with my credentials, use my 2FA and it says it’s sending me a verification code via email. Great. Only it never comes. It’s not in junk, it’s not in spam .. so 2 weeks now and 20 tries later still no email. Then to just contact support you have to enter enough information that it’s like opening up a new account. It’s funny I have no issue receiving all your promotional email.

This is by far one of the worst platforms to use. I was able to instantly deposit usd for btc, but had to wait 72 hours in order to withdrawal. Now that 72 hours has passed I am looking to withdrawal the coin to an external wallet and the app will not allow me to do so. Customer support is absolutely terrible as I have been waiting 2 days for a response, and no live support feature? Maybe this app should stick to mythological characters instead of diving into the crypto market because this is a horrid experience to say the least

I was hopping to transfer my portafolio from Coinbase to this up because it was recommended by a few investigators friends of mine. 80% of my money in invested on shib and I was hopping to transfer yesterday because of the promise that was made on November 1. With that been said it was promised Shib INU to be posted on the app and the following day it was shutdown. False advertising is not good for future investors. For me deleting the app and moving forward to another platform also spreading the word to fellow friend investors to do the same.

What you are not told when you open your account is that you need to upload a photo of you hold a paper saying you understand that any crypto you withdraw is not Kraken responsibility with a you government ID in one phot along with a statement say that you did not receive any help opening your account along with a couple other questions and after all that they may say no you cannot use Kraken and tell you that they cannot tell you why you can not open an account. Recommend that you try other services before you wastes days going through this process.

I had a account with kraken until I got locked out for no reason. I called the support line and all I could get was a team will email me. Prior to them locking my account for no reason I added a new debit card and purchased 300$ in btc. Just this morning I went to login and my account was closed so now I’m at risk of being taken for a lot of money as kraken has my debit card information and they stole the 300$ I had on the account they closed for no reason. If I could give them zero stars I would. Be careful with these people as you will get ripped off

The app itself is nice, the functionality is great, they offer low fees and a lot of crypto options. My biggest issue with this app right now, is that every-time I enter in my banking information so I can add money to trade with, I get a notification from my bank a few hours later stating that my account has been locked because there were to many attempts to my security questions. This has never happened to me until I downloaded your app and it makes me wonder how safe and secure this company really claims to be. This happened to me both times I added money on my kraken account.

I’ve been involved with crypto for the past five years and I’ve seen a lot of apps come and go. I have also had a Ktaken account for at least four years. This new app is absurd. The fees are ridiculous, and the inclusion of minimums makes it worse. To top it off, I just got hit with an $18 service charge from my bank as a result of withdrawing cash from Kraken to my bank account. I don’t blame the developers, as the flow of the app is quite good. The problem is coming from corporate, where they determine fees and minimums. I won’t be using this app again. I will stick with coinbase.

Hands down worst customer service on earth. Trustly, the third party payment processor for ach payments, cannot be reached by a customer and have an archaic contact form where they claim they’ll email you back ‘in a few days’. Ironically, if you have an actual issue, Krakens customer support team also provides a sense of urgency by telling you they will take days to reach you as well. The crypto market is incredibly time sensitive and if you want a service that takes that sensitivity into consideration, look elsewhere. Off coin base expands their crypto options this app will lose half of its customer base.

If I could give them a 0 stars I would. I opened a Kraken account in 4/29/22, got verified same day and everything was fine. Made my first purchase and my funds were on hold for 72hrs. After that, I tried to move my funds from the wallet to my project and I wasn’t able to do it so I contacted support and I was told more KYC verification has to be provided. I provided them with everything they asked for, they also made me write a letter and for what? Just to receive an email saying my account will be terminated and no reason will be given. Not only that, I was told I will no longer be able to use their services. Avoid this app at all cost.

Lured me in by allowing me to make an initial transaction then demanded a photo with my ID and a weird handwritten note. I refused to give it to them and now they are holding my money hostage. I have asked for a refund and they refuse. Support is not helpful whatsoever, I say I refuse to send a letter and they say as soon as I send letter they will release money. If they needed the photo they could have asked for it upfront when they also demanded my social and drivers license which I willingly gave. Instead they lured me in by allowing me to make an initial transaction. That is sketchy. Place basically stole my money. It is a scam, do not use.

I download the app three days ago and set-up an account. I connected my bank information so I was able to transfer funds to the app. My account was approved. Upon trying to purchase crypto currency my purchase failed. I was told by a representative that my account was flagged. They emailed me instructions to hand wrote a statement they provided with my email, signature. And order number provided. Then provided a link once I take a picture holding the note in one hand and ID in the other to download. I was told that the process was for security reasons. I have yet to hear from anyone since. I’m ready to close the account before I have a chance to use it.