Kraken
EU · MiCA Authorised UK · Registered CA · Registered UAE · Licensed US · Registered BVI · Licensed (4 entities) AU · Registered
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Licensing: Genuine licence held (the EU/EEA (MiCA), UAE, and BVI)
Audit & reserves: Independently audited, current — see Audits & reserves below
Kraken holds a genuine crypto-specific licence covering the EU/EEA (MiCA), UAE, and BVI. It first appears in our register on 2019-11-27 and is currently tracked across 36 jurisdictions through 12 legal entities. It also holds an AML-only registration (not a licence) in UK, CA, US, and AU. A group entity is separately, fully FCA-authorised in the UK, usually for a different, non-crypto activity.
Countries covered (36)
- 🇦🇺Australia
- 🇦🇹Austria
- 🇧🇪Belgium
- 🇻🇬British Virgin Islands
- 🇧🇬Bulgaria
- 🇨🇦Canada
- 🇭🇷Croatia
- 🇨🇾Cyprus
- 🇨🇿Czechia
- 🇩🇰Denmark
- 🇪🇪Estonia
- 🇫🇮Finland
- 🇫🇷France
- 🇩🇪Germany
- 🇬🇷Greece
- 🇭🇺Hungary
- 🇮🇸Iceland
- 🇮🇪Ireland
- 🇮🇹Italy
- 🇱🇻Latvia
- 🇱🇮Liechtenstein
- 🇱🇹Lithuania
- 🇱🇺Luxembourg
- 🇲🇹Malta
- 🇳🇱Netherlands
- 🇳🇴Norway
- 🇵🇱Poland
- 🇵🇹Portugal
- 🇷🇴Romania
- 🇸🇰Slovakia
- 🇸🇮Slovenia
- 🇪🇸Spain
- 🇸🇪Sweden
- 🇦🇪UAE (Dubai & Abu Dhabi)
- 🇬🇧United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸United States
Get an email if Kraken's status changes
PAYWARD LTD.
- Jurisdiction
- UK
- Regime
- UK MLR registration
- Status
- Registered
- Reference
- 928768
- Since
- 2021-11-23
PAYWARD CANADA INC.
- Jurisdiction
- CA
- Regime
- Canada MSB registration
- Status
- Registered
- Reference
- M19343731
- Since
- 2019-11-27
- Expires
- 2026-06-20
Kraken
- Jurisdiction
- UAE
- Regime
- Abu Dhabi ADGM FSRA licence
- Status
- Licensed
- Since
- 2022-04-25
- Activities
- Operating a Multilateral Trading Facility and providing custody for virtual assets
Kraken Financial
- Jurisdiction
- US
- Regime
- US FinCEN MSB registration
- Status
- Registered
- Reference
- 29471458
- Since
- 2024-12-09
Payward Commercial Ltd.
- Jurisdiction
- BVI
- Regime
- BVI VASP registration
- Status
- Licensed
- Since
- —
- Activities
- Safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets; transfer of virtual assets
Payward International Markets, Ltd.
- Jurisdiction
- BVI
- Regime
- BVI VASP registration
- Status
- Licensed
- Since
- —
- Activities
- Exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency; safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets; transfer of virtual assets
Payward Oceanic Ltd.
- Jurisdiction
- BVI
- Regime
- BVI VASP registration
- Status
- Licensed
- Since
- —
- Activities
- Exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency; safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets; transfer of virtual assets
Payward Trading Ltd.
- Jurisdiction
- BVI
- Regime
- BVI VASP registration
- Status
- Licensed
- Since
- —
- Activities
- Exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets; exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency; safekeeping and/or administration of virtual assets; transfer of virtual assets
BIT TRADE PTY LIMITED
- Jurisdiction
- AU
- Regime
- AUSTRAC VASP registration
- Status
- Registered
- Since
- —
Audits & reserves
Hand-researched and checked against the exchange's own current disclosures — "audit" gets used loosely in crypto, so each entry states plainly whether it's a full independent financial audit, a narrower proof-of-reserves attestation by a named third party, or a figure Kraken publishes itself with no independent check. Absence of an entry here is not a claim either way.
- Proof-of-reserves attestation 2025-09-30
The Network Firm (registered CPA firm) — Recurring, roughly quarterly
Kraken engages The Network Firm, a registered CPA firm specialising in cryptocurrency attestation, to independently confirm Kraken controls the wallets holding client balances. Reports use a Merkle tree structure with user-verifiable "Merkle Leaf IDs", letting individual clients personally verify their own balance was included. This is a genuine, recurring, independently-attested proof-of-reserves programme -- not a full financial audit (it doesn't cover liabilities or internal controls the way Coinbase's SEC audit does), but among the stronger examples of this tier.
Sources: Kraken — Proof of Reserves, September 2025 ↗ · Kraken — Proof of Reserves, June 30 2025 ↗
What others report
Third-party ratings, not verified by us — each figure links to its original source. Kept separate from the regulator-sourced facts above and the first-party user reports below.
- App Store 34,496 reviews View on App Store ↗ Retrieved 2026-09-02
User reports
Community-sourced and reviewed before publication. Kept strictly separate from the regulator-sourced data above.
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In the news
Automated keyword matches against headlines from The Guardian, BBC, Cointelegraph, The Block, and the SEC's and DOJ's own press releases — tagged Regulatory when it's from a regulator directly or the headline itself uses regulatory language, General otherwise. Neither is a claim these are about Kraken specifically, or relevant to its regulatory status. Read before drawing any conclusion.
- Kraken parent Payward explores becoming a ‘full bank’ outside the US ↗
- Kraken parent Payward revenue rises 17% as trading volume falls in Q2 ↗
- Kraken parent Payward posts $508 million in Q2 adjusted revenue as growth broadens beyond crypto trading ↗
- Kraken adds S&P 500 to funded trading program, commodities to follow ↗
Is Kraken the best crypto exchange for you?
There's no such thing as the best crypto exchange in absolute terms — only the best fit for a given person's situation. The right choice for a business that needs a clean, auditable compliance trail is rarely the right choice for an individual just holding a small amount long-term, and both are different again from someone trading derivatives professionally. We don't recommend Kraken, or anyone else — we give you what's independently verifiable so you can make that call yourself.
Here's what we've actually verified about Kraken, specifically:
- Holds a genuine crypto-specific licence in the EU/EEA (MiCA), UAE, and BVI, plus AML-only registration in UK, CA, US, and AU.
- Tracked across 36 jurisdictions through 12 legal entities, appearing in our register since 2019-11-27.
- Has a current independent audit or active proof-of-reserves attestation on file — see Audits & reserves below.
- Third-party ratings we track: 4.74/5 on App Store (34,496 reviews) — not verified by us, see What others report below.
None of this tells you whether Kraken is right for you — that depends on what you're trying to do, which jurisdiction you're in, your own risk tolerance, and practical details this register doesn't track (fees, product range, day-to-day UX). What it does give you is what's actually checkable, so you're deciding from facts rather than the exchange's own marketing.
Sources: ESMA interim MiCA register (CASPS.csv), retrieved 2026-08-31 — original file · UK FCA Register, retrieved 2026-09-01 — original file · Canada FINTRAC MSB Registry, retrieved 2026-08-26 — original file · US FinCEN MSB Registrant Search, retrieved 2026-07-27 — original file · ADGM FSRA Public Register, retrieved 2026-08-07 — original file · BVI FSC VASP Register, retrieved 2026-08-10 — original file · AUSTRAC VASP Register (VASPR), retrieved 2026-09-04 — original file .