Kraken vs Traders Place 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.

Traders Place is a comparatively young German broker (founded in 2023) that offers 59 cryptocurrencies in addition to stocks and ETFs. Crypto custody is handled by Tangany GmbH, which is licensed by BaFin and is regarded as regulatorily reliable in the DACH region. Savings plans start at €1 with no order fee, but for crypto they only cover 13 crypto ETPs from 21Shares, not the crypto assets themselves.

How crypto trading works: Traders Place takes the order and passes it to Baader Bank, which buys or sells as a commission agent via Hyphe, currently the only trading venue. The coins are held in custody by Tangany GmbH. All three parties appear in ESMA's MiCA register: Tangany with its own BaFin licence for custody and transfers since 8 August 2025, Traders Place (since 21 July 2025) and Baader Bank with a MiCA notification to BaFin. Trading runs around the clock, and the execution price can differ from the displayed price when markets move sharply. Crypto trading is only open to customers resident in Germany; the majority owner of Traders Place is the Austrian GRAWE Group.

For investors who prefer a German broker based in Germany and want to use crypto as a supplement to a classic securities account, Traders Place is seen as one of the newer alternatives. The platform can be used via app and web and covers a solid range of cryptocurrencies with 59 coins. Trading fees of 0.9 % of the trade value, plus €1 below €500, are in the middle to upper range among the compared German brokers.

However, wallet transfers to your own wallets are not possible, and staking is currently not offered; both are occasionally criticized by users. The SMS-based 2FA and the limited deposit methods (SEPA transfer only) are also seen as room for improvement. Traders Place is therefore especially suitable for investors who want to try a young German broker with regulated custody and a broad coin offering and can do without wallet functionality.