Kraken Opinion 2023 & Tuto | Reliable platform or Scam?

What is Kraken?

Kraken is one of the most renowned platforms in the world of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, Kraken was founded in 2011 in San Francisco, United States. It was one of the first to allow American and European citizens to exchange their currencies for crypto.

One of the main advantages of Kraken is that it offers low fees compared to other competitors like Coinbase for instance.

Kraken’s main concern is to provide complete investment freedom to both new and experienced investors. If you want to find the right platform for long-term investing, then we recommend Kraken.

How to register on Kraken?

If you want to register on Kraken, please click here. You will then benefit from a lifetime discount of 20% on all your fees. Then, fill out the information on the form (email, username, password, and country of residence).

Securing your Kraken account

Once your account is created, you will have to secure it. This allows you to protect your funds by making access to your account more difficult. To do this, we are going to use two-factor authentication (2FA).

First, you have to download a 2FA application on your phone. You can for instance download Google Authenticator: this application allows you to secure your account.

Once you have installed the application, you can follow these few steps to secure your account.

• Step 1: Go to your account settings, security tab, then “2FA Settings“.

• Step 2: Once on this page, click on the “Activate Now” button on the yellow banner. You will be taken to a page that is going to request you to scan a QR code with the Google Authenticator application that you should have previously downloaded.

• Step 3: After scanning your QR code, a six-digit code will appear on your Google Authenticator app. You will then need to enter it into Kraken before the timer runs out and your account will be safe. The code on the app changes regularly and you will need your code each time you log in.

• Bonus step: You are welcome to activate a 2FA security for other purposes on your account. On the same page you can activate it for every time you withdraw funds or place an order, for example.

Perfect, your account is now protected, this will significantly complicate the hack of the latter by a third party. You can therefore sleep soundly.

Verify your account with your ID (KYC)

In order to comply with the law, Kraken will ask you to verify your identity. This verification allows you to increase your trading, deposit and withdrawal limits. It’s not that difficult to do, but you will have to bring along an identification document and follow our guide.

• Step 1: Go to your account settings, on “Get verified” tab

• Step 2: Choose the level of verification you wish to achieve. We recommend you to take the intermediate level of verification. This level will allow you to have maximum freedom in a minimum time.

• Step 3: Take your ID to complete this step. You first have to fill out a form with your personal information.

• Step 4: On the next screen, you will be asked to enter your profession and provide a scan of your identification. You can choose to provide your passport, driver’s license or ID card.

• Step 5: After submitting your ID, you will have to wait a couple of minutes for Kraken to verify that your information matches. This may take longer depending on the quality of your submission.

Great, your account is now secure and your identity is verified. Kraken opens its doors to you.

How to buy cryptocurrencies on Kraken?

Depositing funds on Kraken

Before you can buy cryptocurrencies on Kraken, you will have to deposit some funds.

• Step 1: To get started, you will need to click on the “Funding” button from the Kraken main page.

• Step 2: Once on the funding interface, choose the currency in which you want to credit your account. You just have to click on the “Deposit” button.

• Step 3: After choosing the currency you intend to deposit you will be brought to an interface asking you what type of transfer you would like to use. Check with your bank which types of transfers can be made according to your needs. The minimum amount of the transfer must be €1. All you have to do is to fill in the information provided by Kraken in your banking interface. Your transfer will arrive a few days later in your Kraken account.

Buy cryptocurrencies on Kraken

If you want to purchase your crypto currencies on Kraken you will be able to enjoy reasonable fees. And if you went through our signup link you get 20% off all your fees. Once you are ready to take the plunge and buy your first crypto, follow the guide.

• Step 1: From the Kraken main page, go to the “Buy Crypto” button.

• Step 2: Once on the payment interface, choose the crypto you want to buy and how much you want to spend. Once you have chosen your amount and crypto you can click on “Purchase Preview”. You will then see exactly how much you are about to spend and how much crypto you will then receive.

Congratulations, you’ve obtained your first Bitcoins or other cryptocurrency. The satisfaction of digital gold is yours.

How to transfer cryptocurrencies to Kraken?

If you already own your crypto and want to transfer it to your Kraken account, it is perfectly possible. Just follow these few steps to make sure you don’t make any mistakes.

• Step 1: Start by going to the “Funding” section of the main page.

• Step 2: Once on the page, you will need to check the “Show all assets” box.

• Step 3: you can now look at all the cryptocurrencies you can transfer to your wallet. Look for the line you want and click on “Deposit”. You can make use of the search bar to find which crypto you want. In our example, we’re choosing to deposit USDT (Tether USD).

• Step 4: Depending on the cryptocurrency you choose you may need to select a deposit method. This concerns the blockchain used to complete your transfer. You must choose the blockchain where your cryptocurrency is stored or you will get the wrong address.

Be careful, it is important to make no mistake in this step, if you make a mistake and indicate a wrong address to receive or send USDT from where you sent it, the funds will be lost forever. We therefore advise you to double check the address you have copy/pasted. You can also first send a small amount of your funds for the concerned transaction to make sure you have entered the correct address. Once you are sure that you have entered the correct address, you can send as many funds as you are willing to send.
As a reminder, an USDT address on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC20 standard) looks like this format: “0xc1afd240543ab56cb2f636bd9185ea5798afb108”.

• Step 5: Next, select the “Generate a new address” button. This will create a new address on the blockchain you selected and for the desired crypto. Be careful, again, don’t get the wrong address here, or your funds will be lost forever.

• Step 6: Transfer your cryptocurrency from your external wallet to your Kraken account using the new freshly generated address. You can also do the opposite if wanted : transfer your cryptocurrencies from your Kraken account to an external wallet. For this, go back to step 3 and choose “Withdrawal” instead. You then have to enter the amount you wish to withdraw and the address of your external wallet.

Alright, now you know how to add and remove different cryptos from your Kraken account. We’re now going to teach you how to resell them so you can make profits.

How to sell your cryptocurrencies on Kraken?

Once you own your cryptocurrencies on Kraken, you can sell them for fiat currencies whenever you want. It’s very simple and not much different from buying, but we’ll guide you through it so you avoid making any mistakes.

• Step 1: From the Kraken main page, go to the “Buy Crypto” button.

• Step 2: Once on the payment interface, choose the crypto you want to sell and how much you would like to resell. Once you’ve decided the amount and the particular crypto you want to sell, you can click on the “Sale Overview” button. You will then see exactly how much you are selling and how much money you will receive.

Please be aware that when you sell your cryptocurrencies for USD (dollars) or EUR (euros), depending on your country of tax residence, it will probably be necessary to pay taxes on the capital gain, and this on every transaction. It may be wiser to convert your crypto to USDT (Tether) or USDC (USD Coin) because it’s another cryptocurrency, and you will thus not be taxed on your sale.

Well, nothing escapes you anymore on the sale of cryptocurrencies, but be sure to take into consideration the taxation. Now all we have to do is to see together how to withdraw your money to your bank account.

How to withdraw your money on Kraken ?

After selling your cryptocurrencies what you are surely interested in is to get your money back into your bank account. For this nothing could be easier, follow the guide.

• Step 1: You will have to go back to the “Financing” part. Always from the main Kraken interface.

• Step 2: Click on the currency you wish to withdraw. Then click on the “Withdraw” button.

• Step 3: Once on the interface of your currency, choose the payment method you prefer. The different methods are mostly all bank transfer methods. In our example, we’re choosing the classic SEPA bank transfer withdrawal.

• Step 4: You then have to click on “Add an account” in order to fill in the different information of your bank account.

• Step 5: Fill in your bank account information in the form. Once everything is correct, choose the amount you want to withdraw from your account. You will receive your funds in your bank account within a few days.

Please be aware that when you sell your cryptocurrencies for USD (dollars) or EUR (euros), depending on your country of tax residence, it will probably be necessary to pay taxes on the capital gain, and this on every transaction. It may be wiser to convert your crypto currencies to USDT (Tether) or USDC (USD Coin) because it’s another cryptocurrency, and you will thus not be taxed on your sale.

Congratulations, you have just closed the loop of buying and selling your cryptocurrencies. Kraken also offers staking which we are going to quickly introduce to you.

Staking on Kraken

Kraken also offers staking for aspiring and experienced investors. We’ll explain what it is and how it works.

Staking is a method of earning regular income by locking in your funds on an exchange platform (off-chain staking) or on a crypto by ensuring the security of the blockchain of that particular crypto (on-chain staking).

Staking your funds “on-chain” will allow the blockchain to work thanks to the “Proof-of-Stake” method, meaning that you take the risk of putting your money on the line while securing the network and you get a reward in return of taking this risk and performing this work. It is a different way of working from bitcoin (the Proof of work), knowing that Proof of Stake is about to become the standard on Ethereum by the end of 2022, but this way of working also exists on other coins like Tezos, Solana, Cardano, Avalanche or Elrond.
Storing your funds “off-chain” will allow you to retrieve funds paid by a platform not linked to the Blockchain. Usually the latter rewards you with the liquidity you provide.

• Step 1: To begin with your staking adventure you will have to go to the “Earn” tab. It is located at the top of the main interface.

• Step 2: Once on the staking interface, you will be able to choose the cryptocurrency you want to stake. Each coin yields a different rate per year and this rate may vary due to the platform’s rules. So choose wisely!
  Once you have chosen the coin you want to stage. Click the on the “Stake” button on the right side of the line, or the one in blue.
  In our example, we will choose Ethereum

• Step 3: On the interface of your cryptocurrency, select the amount or the share of your portfolio that you want to allocate.

• Step 4: After staking your cryptocurrency for a couple of days, you are certainly wanting to collect your rewards. Depending on your choice, you can collect your rewards more or less frequently.
  Kraken will automatically credit your staking account, and you will see your earnings displayed on the staking interface.
  So for this step you just have to stare at your rewards coming by itself!

• Step 5: To enjoy your funds, you might want to withdraw it. To do this, simply click on the “Unstake” button. Withdraw the cryptocurrency of your choice and use it for whatever you want.

Kraken has no secrets for you. Now you know how to buy, sell, trade, transfer and stake. Enjoy, but above all be very careful, do not forget to only invest what you can afford to lose.

FAQ about Kraken

Is Kraken safe ?

Kraken appears to be one of the oldest platforms in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, as the it has been around for almost 10 years. Kraken thus represents one of the platforms with the most experience in the field of security.
Regarding leaving your cryptos on the platform: zero risk does not exist.
If you are not trading and want to protect your cryptocurrencies from being hacked on Kraken or on your account, you can remove them from the platform and store them on a hardware wallet like Ledger. Not your keys, not your coins.

Do I have to be over 18 to create an account on Kraken?

Yes, to register with Kraken, you must be of legal age as stated in the Terms of Service. So, if you are under 18, do not attempt to sign up for Kraken, because at the time of account verification, you will get caught. It is essential that you have an identity document in your name that proves you are of age.

Nevertheless, you can still use the platform in a limited version without registering.

Who is behind Kraken ?

Kraken is a very large company. We don’t know the exact composition of it. However, we do know that its founder is Jesse Powell, an entrepreneur with a passion for cryptocurrency and an eagerness to grow his company and the industry.

How to contact Kraken?

If you have any problems, Kraken has a customer support section you can use by clicking here. If your problem requires you to contact them directly, you can do so by clicking right here.

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