Kraken

Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing and most secure cryptocurrency platforms, founded in 2011 as one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges. With over 14 years of experience, Kraken has grown into one of the largest crypto platforms globally, trusted by over 13 million individuals, traders, and institutions worldwide. The company operates under its legal entity Payward, Inc. and maintains a strong presence across 190+ countries.

Core Products and Services

Kraken offers a comprehensive suite of institutional-grade cryptocurrency services designed specifically for professional traders, banks, fintechs, investment firms, and asset managers. Their institutional offerings include Kraken Prime (a unified platform for trading, custody, and financing), Kraken Custody (qualified digital asset custody through licensed Kraken Financial), institutional spot and futures trading, staking services, OTC trading desk, and Kraken Embed (crypto-as-a-service for platforms). The company also operates CF Benchmarks, a subsidiary that builds cryptocurrency indices underpinning digital asset ETFs worldwide.

Kraken supports trading of 370+ digital assets and 7 fiat currencies (including USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, CHF, and AUD), providing deep liquidity and institutional-grade infrastructure with 99.9% uptime and baseline round-trip latency of 2.5ms. Their API offerings include REST API, WebSocket API, and FIX 4.4 protocol for institutional trading.

Key Strengths

Kraken is recognized for its industry-leading security practices, having earned ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and SOC 2 Type 1 certifications. The platform was the first cryptocurrency exchange to conduct Proof of Reserves audits, setting the industry standard for transparency. Kraken holds the #1 market position in Europe with over 35% market share and provides 24/7/365 professional client support from a globally distributed team.

The company is regulated across multiple jurisdictions including registration with AUSTRAC in Australia, as a Restricted Dealer with Canadian securities regulators, regulation by the Central Bank of Ireland in the EEA, registration with the UK's FCA, and operates a Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution (Kraken Financial) for qualified custody services in the United States.

Notable Achievements

Kraken was voted the Best Crypto Exchange in 2025 by Forbes and ranked as Australia's #1 crypto trading platform by Finder. In 2024, Kraken ranked 12th in Newsweek's Global Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces. The company's acquisition of CF Benchmarks has positioned it as a major provider of crypto indexes, with BlackRock, Ark Invest, and other Wall Street giants using its Bitcoin Reference Rate for their Bitcoin ETF products.

Why Choose Kraken

Kraken provides institutional clients with a battle-tested, always-on infrastructure backed by over a decade of cryptocurrency expertise. Their qualified custody solution through Kraken Financial offers full regulatory compliance and asset segregation, while their Prime platform provides seamless integration of trading, staking, financing, and custody on a single regulated platform. With deep liquidity across spot markets and stablecoins, flexible settlement options, and white-glove institutional support, Kraken serves as a strategic partner for enterprises looking to access the cryptocurrency ecosystem with confidence and security.