Best Alternatives to Kraken: A Comprehensive Guide
Finding the right Cryptocurrency Exchange is crucial for investors, as these Platforms can significantly differ in usability, Security, and fee structures. While Kraken is well-regarded for its user-friendly interface and reliable trading bot services, many traders also explore other options to diversify their Strategies and optimize their trading Experience. When looking for the best alternatives to Kraken, several options stand out in the Cryptocurrency exchange Market. Benzinga reviewed some of the best Crypto Exchanges to use in lieu of Kraken to simplify your search.
Quick Look at the Best Alternatives to Kraken:
- Best for Active Crypto Traders: Coinbase
- Best for Altcoin Trading: Binance
- Best for Social Investing: eToro
- Best for New Investors: Gemini
Top 4 Best Kraken Alternatives
Consider these four alternatives to Kraken for your cryptocurrency exchange needs. Compare features and tools of each platform and choose the one which aligns with your Crypto trading goals.
1. Best for Active Crypto Traders: Coinbase
Coinbase is a prominent cryptocurrency exchange that facilitates the buying, selling, and trading of various Digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many altcoins. It offers easy integration with PayPal and an incredibly user-friendly Experience. Coinbase focuses on customers from the United States, whereas Kraken actually restricts U.S. users more than their other customers.
Coinbase has a shorter setup time than Kraken, which attracts new investors. Most notably, Coinbase offers FDIC insurance on the USD balance of its users — all USD on the crypto exchange is insured similarly to a bank balance.
Coinbase has higher fees than Kraken. In fact, Coinbase has some of the highest fees in the industry. Coinbase has a lower total trading amount than Kraken, making it a poor choice for investors who intend to invest very large sums of money.
Why We Picked It: Coinbase's ease of use and supportive ecosystem make it an excellent choice for both novice and experienced investors looking for a reliable alternative to Kraken.
2. Best for Altcoin Trading: Binance
Binance is one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, known for its extensive range of supported cryptocurrencies and trading pairs. Founded in 2017, it quickly gained popularity due to its low trading fees, slightly lower fee structure than Kraken.
Binance suffered a major hack in 2019 and is not very transparent with its security features. Also, it has faced regulatory scrutiny in several countries, prompting it to adapt its services and comply with local laws. Overall, Binance remains a prominent player in the crypto ecosystem, continually evolving to meet the needs of its users.
Why We Picked It: With a wide variety of supported cryptocurrencies and a user-friendly interface, Binance is a leading alternative to Kraken, especially for those interested in buying altcoin. The platform provides advanced trading features, high liquidity, and strong security measures, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced traders.
3. Best for Social Investing: eToro
eToro is a popular social trading and Investment platform that allows trading of the most popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It features social trading capabilities, enabling users to copy experienced investors, which is beneficial for beginners.
Fees can be significant on eToro, and the service doesn’t offer cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency pairs like many of its competitors. Minimum transaction amounts are higher than competitors.
Why We Picked It: eToro is a leading social investing platform that combines user-friendly features with a strong community. Additionally, eToro supports a variety of assets, including cryptocurrencies, stocks, and ETFs, all in one platform, providing users with diverse investment opportunities.
4. Best for New Investors: Gemini
Gemini stands out for its focus on compliance with U.S. regulations and has obtained licenses to operate in numerous jurisdictions, which bolsters its credibility among users. Gemini places a high priority on security, utilizing advanced features such as cold storage and two-factor authentication to protect users' assets. The platform features low fees that are similar to Kraken and FDIC backing on USD balances.
Gemini offers services such as a user-friendly trading interface, advanced trading options, and features like Gemini Earn, allowing users to earn interest on their crypto holdings. It supports fewer coins than Kraken, and it doesn’t allow for Credit cards to be used to buy crypto.
Why We Picked It: Gemini is considered one of the best alternatives to Kraken due to its user-friendly interface, robust security features, and extensive educational resources. The platform prioritizes user security with features like two-factor authentication and insurance for digital assets, helping to build trust among novice users.
What Makes Kraken Unique?
Kraken allows many transactions such as buying, selling, exchanging, futures, margin trading, and market orders. Many of these transactions require a lot of involvement from the Kraken platform itself so its security is a critical part of its platform.
Kraken puts a lot of effort into providing top-notch security for its users. All Kraken accounts offer 2-factor authentication (2FA), which means that a login attempt needs to be approved on an additional device other than the device making the login attempt. Kraken follows the U.S. Know Your Customer (KYC) standards, which require the personal information of a customer before registering to trade assets. The cryptocurrency exchange holds 95% of its crypto deposits in physically protected and geographically Distributed cold storage Wallets which have never experienced a security breach since Kraken started in 2013.
In fact, Kraken was founded as an alternative to another cryptocurrency exchange that had suffered two security breaches, so security has been at the forefront of Kraken’s design from the very beginning. They undergo regular penetration testing and have a bug reward system to incentivize reporting potential exploits before they become a problem. Kraken also undergoes proof-of-reserves audits by a third party to ensure that it has all of the cryptocurrency needed if every single investor was to withdraw all their cryptocurrency at once.
Why Kraken Might Not be Right for You
Kraken’s heavily involved security measures come at a hefty Price that can be unreasonable for many of its users. Kraken is supported in 48 states, excluding Washington and New York, and is recognized as a bank charter under federal and state law. The notable exclusion of the fourth most populous state leaves millions of users looking for an alternative.
Kraken supports over 200 cryptocurrencies, which isn't much compared to some competing exchanges. Some of the popular currencies that aren't supported on Kraken are SushiSwap (SUSHI) and 0x (ZRX). Kraken generally offers fewer features to its U.S. based users.
Common Complaint: Security Features Compromise Ease of Use
Signing up to use Kraken requires much more time and effort than several of its competitors, which can be a hassle for entry-level investors who aren’t looking to trade huge amounts of cryptocurrency or those who just want an easy introduction to the cryptocurrency space.
Common Complaint: Transaction Fees
Depending on the digital asset you choose to purchase, you'll be paying anywhere from 0.9% to around 1.5% in fees to make your purchase. While this is comparable to cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, there are certainly less expensive options on the market. For some, paying higher transaction fees is worth the convenience and accessibility of crypto apps like Kraken.
Choosing the Best Alternative to Kraken
Kraken is undoubtedly among the best cryptocurrency exchanges on the market right now. If you currently use Kraken, there are few reasons to switch to a competitor, unless you are looking to buy a specific Coin that Kraken has not listed.
However, many traders open several exchange accounts to maximize their trading possibilities, and there’s no downside to using more exchanges to reach more types of coins.
