Kraken vs Revolut Comparison

In short: Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the world, active since 2011 and licensed under MiCA in the EEA. More than 600 coins, 490 of them directly against the euro, a regular proof of reserves and strong security features speak for the platform. The simple buy costs 1% plus spread; on the Kraken Pro order book you pay from 0.40% as a maker and 0.80% as a taker.

Is Kraken safe and licensed in the EU?

Yes, Kraken may serve customers across the EU. In the EEA, Kraken operates through Payward Europe Solutions Limited, based in Dublin, licensed under MiCA since 25 June 2025 and supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Through the EU passport the licence covers 30 EEA countries, including Germany, France and Spain (ESMA register, file of 30 October 2026). It covers custody, exchanging crypto for money and for other crypto, order execution and transfers, among other services. Kraken's parent Payward agreed on 14 October 2026 to buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank; closing is planned for 2027 and needs regulatory approval (our report on the deal).

Reserves and security: Kraken has its proof of reserves prepared regularly by auditors. The snapshot of 30 June 2026 shows coverage of 102.9% for Bitcoin, 100.5% for Ether, 100.6% for Solana and 102.3% for XRP, and 105% or more each for USDC and USDT. Kraken is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022, offers two-factor authentication with FIDO2 passkeys and a Global Settings Lock, and does not recover accounts by phone or SMS.

Account freezes and delistings: Between 17 and 24 August 2026, Kraken customers received almost 12,000 tiny deposits from wallets that analytics firms attribute to the sanctioned exchange HTX. Sanctions screening temporarily froze affected accounts; access has since been restored (our report on the dust attack). Kraken also removes tokens from trading regularly, most recently 13 tokens on 23 October 2026; withdrawal deadlines and steps are in our delisting report.

What you can do yourself: turn on a passkey or two-factor authentication and the Global Settings Lock, leave tiny deposits of unknown origin untouched and keep larger amounts on your own hardware wallet.

Who is Kraken for?

Kraken suits investors who want a long-established exchange with a wide choice of euro pairs, a savings plan and staking. Regular traders save with Kraken Pro. Since 26 October 2026, EEA customers with a derivatives account can also trade bitcoin and ether options there after an appropriateness assessment, provided by Cyprus-based Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited under CySEC supervision. For simple euro trading, Bitvavo is cheaper, and Coinbase is an alternative with a listed parent company. All licensed providers are listed in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Revolut is considered one of the most versatile financial apps in the DACH region and is popular with users who want to manage crypto, banking, card payments, and currency exchange in a single application. With more than 300 tradeable cryptocurrencies, Revolut offers by far the broadest coin selection among the brokers compared here. The crypto business sits with the Cypriot entity Revolut Digital Assets (Europe) Ltd., which has held licence CASP001/25 in the CySEC MiCAR register since 20 October 2025. The entity previously named here, RT Digital Securities Cyprus Ltd., is no longer listed there.

Unlike many German neobrokers, Revolut enables transfers to your own wallets, according to Revolut for BTC, ETH and more than 30 other tokens, as well as staking and recurring investments. Biometric verification for withdrawals is viewed positively as an additional security feature. Deposits are possible via SEPA, SEPA Instant Transfer, and credit card, which increases flexibility.

Costs deserve a close look: Revolut advertises exchange fees “from 0%”, but that rate only applies on the Ultra plan above €250,000 of trading volume in 30 days. According to the fee schedule of Revolut Digital Assets Europe, a crypto purchase in the app costs 1.49% on the Standard and Plus plans, 0.99% on Premium and Metal and 0.49% on Ultra, with lower rates at higher volumes. Small orders are subject to a minimum fee, so a €100 purchase costs €2.49 on the Standard plan, and a one-sided spread of typically 0 to 3% comes on top. Trading is considerably cheaper on Revolut's own exchange Revolut X, at 0% maker and 0.09% taker fees. Revolut is therefore especially suitable for investors looking for a wide selection of coins with wallet functionality in an all-in-one financial app.

In September 2026, Revolut confirmed that it had handed over customer data, including identity documents, account statements and transaction histories, in response to forged information requests sent from the email account of a genuine public authority. According to Revolut, around 680 customers in Europe were affected, while its systems and customer funds were not. On 20 October 2026, the app was disrupted for part of the day following an outage at Google Cloud; Revolut said customers' money and data were safe.