Kraken Review: Is It Really Safe Bitcoin Exchange? — Safetrading
Kraken is one of the oldest and the biggest world centers for trading cryptocurrency assets located in San Francisco, California, and has representatives in Canada and the European Union.
Cryptocurrency is one of the most popular incomes now.
Of course! You can stay at home and still get the money.
Exchanges help us to trade crypto that is why it is very important to be sure that your coins are in safe hands.
Today we will talk about Kraken exchange New York, its features, pros and cons, Kraken exchange fees, security, etc.
Let’s go!
What Is Kraken?
Kraken company launched with Bitcoin and back in 2011, it was the only platform, which exchanged US virtual money.
Jesse Powell, founder, and CEO of the Kraken exchange is not only a Bitcoin enthusiast but also a very smart man.
This exchange was the first to be displayed in the Bloomberg trading terminal and is recognized all over the world.
According to the last update on April 2, 2019, Kraken company is closed for residents from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau, Tajikistan, and North Korea. If your origin from one of the countries in the list but live elsewhere you can undergo a standard verification so Kraken exchange New York is available and US citizens can use it.
Kraken is absolutely free to use - you just need to pay some Kraken withdrawal fees and Kraken deposit fees or Kraken futures fees.
Registration
Kraken exchange New York registration process is rather simple: you need to complete the profile form, which is situated on the homepage of the official website and to confirm the email address.
However, to get access to trading opportunities of the platform you will need to undergo verification.
The verification process is divided into four levels, each of which requires a certain set of actions to confirm identity and grant users with additional features.
The lowest – zero – level is almost useless, and the highest – fourth – makes sense only for traders, who operate large volumes of coins. Let’s have a closer look at every verification level.
Level 1
Required time: several minutes.
Evidence: indicate your full name, date of birth, country, and phone number.
This account will be enough for the input and output of digital currencies. Crypto trading is also available but remember that you won’t be able to withdraw funds using fiat services and there is also a limitation on cryptocurrency withdrawals.
Level 2
Required time: several minutes (if a manual view is not required).
Evidence: email confirmation.
This Kraken bitcoin exchange level is suitable for the majority of average investors and allows depositing, withdrawing, and trading digital and fiat currencies (with limitations in several countries).
Level 3
Required time: several days if the influx of new users isn’t big.
Evidence: personality identification and address confirmation. Moreover, users from the US, Japan or Germany will need to provide Social Security numbers (for US residents) and a photo to verify identity.
This level is similar to opening a bank account. Once granted with Level 3, you will be able to deposit and withdraw larger sums but you will still have to undergo additional verification, which takes time.
Level 4
Required time: up to 30 days.
Evidence: KYC procedure. The verification process takes place via the support service and includes identity confirmation, employment, and high-income level.
This level increases the limits of the margin loan and deposit amounts and makes the withdrawal process the most profitable for the trader. It is suitable for accredited traders and companies that invest a lot of money in cryptocurrency.
Kraken Trade Processes
Start with funding your exchange account. It can be done by choosing the Deposit tab (Funding section in your account). Depositing can be made via a crypto wallet or bank card (only for customers of the bitcoin trading platform partner banks). Choose the Withdrawal tab for cashing out.
Buying or selling assets can be done in the Trade section, which consists of five tabs:
1. Overview – here you can check your balance and actual positions on the cryptocurrency exchange;
2. New order – form for creating new orders on buying or selling cryptocurrency;
3. Orders – information on the current orders (both open and closed ones);
4. Positions – data on open and closed positions;
5. Trades – archive of transactions.
Note that four tabs are informative ones and all the trades are conducted through the New Order section. Here you can choose a trading pair, familiarize with the current cryptocurrency chart (in a separate window) and select a trading mode:
Standard
You should only choose trade direction (purchasing or selling), the number of coins and order type (market or limit one).
Intermediate
You can trade with leverage, set the working time of a certain order (for example, until a particular date or until the end of the day) and select assets, from which you’ll pay the Kraken exchange fees (for example, BTC or ETH).
Advanced
It differs from the previous one only with a chance of setting closing conditions for an order. For example, you can indicate that the order should be closed if the asset’s price exceeds a certain value.
New Charting
Experimental mode, where users can change cryptocurrency chart settings and get access to the feed of the latest transactions on the Kraken exchange New York.
After getting familiar with the trading process, let’s continue our Kraken exchange review by explaining how depositing to the account works.
Problems with Kraken Cryptocurrency Exchange
Case 1.
On September 6, 2018, appeared rumors that Kraken exchange New York is experiencing issues with security and is forced to close one of the service centers.
Based on the comments of Kraken review Reddit, the company has closed its office in Halifax, Canada, and fired hundreds of employees according to Finance Magnates.
Case 2.
On 11 January 2018, users noticed Kraken exchange New York not working.
They went offline for scheduled maintenance. The work started at 12:01 AM and should have lasted only for three hours but eventually, the website was down for over 48 hours.
This has caused panic among investors. However, when the cryptocurrency exchange has resumed its work, all traders could use the exchange without any Kraken exchange fees for two days as an apology.
As well as any other trading site, Kraken app has issues accessing the platform but the team works hard to eliminate all the arising problems on time. That is an important fact that we couldn’t pass by in our Kraken exchange review.
System Security
You probably know that all exchanges are custodial, which means that data is stored on their own servers.
Kraken exchange servers are situated in closed and protected areas, data is encrypted, and systems are isolated from each other.
Moreover, information is duplicated in real-time and backed up every day.
Financial Security
Kraken exchange reserves are kept full to eliminate the possibility of bankruptcy. Clients’ assets are located on a bank account apart from the company operating accounts. They can’t be used as working capital or loan funds, including for margin trading.
The company claims to have good relationships with their bank and is in constant search of new banking partners for providing even bigger financial stability.
When writing about financial safety in this Kraken exchange review we couldn’t avoid mentioning Jesse Powell, who strongly encouraged users not to store more coins on any exchange than they need for trading.
He said that it’s better to use Trezor or Ledger because decentralized exchanges are not a solution. Jesse also added that using an open code only means that vulnerabilities would be discovered quicker, and most likely by the bad guys.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Benefits of the Kraken UK exchange definitely outnumber the drawbacks and can impress even experienced traders.
First of all, this company wasn’t involved in any scandals, fraud investigations, or theft of user money. They have a thoroughly selected cryptocurrency listing and high-security levels.
Kraken has a practical approach to choosing currency pairs and there you can find only popular coins with high liquidity.
They also have a perfect reputation in the cryptocurrency community and can boast a set of tools for conducting transactions.
Our Kraken exchange review would be incomplete without indicating the drawbacks of the service. They include compulsory verification and custodial approach. Another flaw is that the user interface is rather complicated and incomprehensible for beginners.
Final Thoughts
Today we discussed in this Kraken exchange review all the important facts and features of the popular Bitcoin exchange, Kraken fees.
And you can see it is very safe and really cares about users’ money. The verification process is, of course, a bit complicated but it is worth the benefits that are waiting for you while trading.
In general, Kraken is a very good crypto exchange with a lot of benefits.
If you want to go through other exchanges, you can read Binance, Bittrex, or Coinbase review and choose the best exchange for you.