Kraken vs. KuCoin crypto exchanges

Can you use KuCoin or Kraken in the US?

Kraken serves US residents in every state except New York and Maine, according to its US quick-start guide (updated March 30, 2026). Some products, such as on-chain staking and stock trading, are limited to certain states, so check the product page for your state before depositing.

KuCoin does not. Its Terms of Use, last updated September 29, 2026, list the United States and its territories as Restricted Locations, along with Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong, Ontario, British Columbia, France and the Netherlands. This is more than company policy. In January 2025 KuCoin’s operator, Peken Global Limited, agreed to leave the US market for at least two years as part of its federal guilty plea, and on March 30, 2026 the CFTC announced a consent order that permanently bars Peken Global from letting US participants trade unless it registers as a foreign board of trade.

KuCoin’s terms say it can block access by IP address. Using a VPN to get around that breaks the terms and can leave funds frozen on an offshore platform with no US regulator to complain to. For a US reader, this settles the comparison: Kraken, or another US-registered exchange such as Coinbase.

Fees: KuCoin is cheaper on paper

Fees are where KuCoin looks better, which is why the two get compared outside the US. KuCoin’s VIP 0 spot fee is 0.1% maker and 0.1% taker on its Class A (major) coins, 0.2% on Class B and 0.3% on Class C. Paying fees in its KCS token takes 20% off. Futures start at 0.02% maker and 0.06% taker.

Kraken raised its fees. Kraken Pro now starts at 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker under $2,500 of 30-day volume, falling to 0.22% and 0.38% from $10,000, with tiers that can also be set by the assets you hold on Kraken. The simpler Instant Buy screen charges 1% plus a spread. Kraken Pro futures start at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker.

On a $1,000 market order, that is about $1 at KuCoin’s base rate versus $8 as a Kraken Pro taker, or $10 plus spread on Instant Buy. Using limit orders on Kraken Pro cuts the cost to $4. Withdrawal fees on both vary by coin and network. For a US resident, KuCoin’s lower fee is not an option, so the real comparison is Kraken Pro against other US exchanges.

Regulatory record

KuCoin has the heavier record. The Justice Department said KuCoin failed to run effective anti-money laundering and know-your-customer programs and did not register with FinCEN. Peken Global pleaded guilty in January 2025 and agreed to penalties of more than $297 million, and two founders agreed to give up any role in its management. Earlier, in December 2023, KuCoin settled with the New York Attorney General for more than $22 million and stopped serving New York. Canada’s FINTRAC imposed a penalty of about $13.7 million (about $13.7 million (C$19,552,000)) in 2025, which Peken has appealed.

Kraken has its own history with the SEC. In February 2023 it agreed to end its US staking-as-a-service program and pay $30 million. In November 2023 the SEC sued again, alleging Kraken operated as an unregistered exchange; the SEC and Kraken moved to dismiss that case with prejudice in March 2025, with no penalty. Kraken has since restarted staking in many states under a different structure. It remains privately held; Payward confidentially submitted a draft IPO registration in November 2025.

Security and proof of reserves

Both exchanges publish proof-of-reserves snapshots, which compare assets held with customer balances on a given day. They are self-published and are not full audits of liabilities.

• Kraken: June 30, 2026 snapshot covering BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC, USDT and XRP, with a 102.9% bitcoin reserve ratio. Kraken says it holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, has completed a SOC 2 Type 1 examination, uses cold storage and runs a bug bounty program.
• KuCoin: September 30, 2026 snapshot showing 109% for BTC, 117% for ETH and 110% for USDT. On September 26, 2020 attackers took the private keys to KuCoin’s hot wallets and stole about $281 million; KuCoin later said it recovered about 84%, around $236 million.

Neither snapshot tells you how quickly you could withdraw in a crisis. Crypto held on any exchange is not covered by FDIC or SIPC insurance. Turn on two-factor authentication, keep only what you are actively trading on an exchange, and move long-term holdings to a wallet you control.

Complaints and where to turn

Kraken had 524 CFPB complaints from October 2023 to October 2026. The top issues were fraud or scams (174), other transaction problems (121) and money not available when promised (120). Many scam complaints involve people told by a scammer to buy crypto on Kraken and send it on, which Kraken cannot reverse. On Trustpilot, Kraken scores 3.2 out of 5, with half of 9,180 reviews at one star, mostly over withdrawal holds, account freezes and slow support.

KuCoin has no CFPB complaints because it is not a US company, which also means US users have no CFPB channel. Trustpilot has suspended KuCoin’s rating for a breach of its guidelines and says it removed fake reviews; 78% of the 1,597 reviews still shown are one star, citing frozen withdrawals, repeated identity checks and P2P disputes.

If you still hold funds on KuCoin from before the US ban, withdraw them to a wallet or US exchange you control. Report crypto fraud to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.