Examined Oct 2, 2026 Paid in crypto Kraken advertises up to $75. Its own help pages say a fixed $20.
Kraken's referral page advertises up to $75. Its help article for the same program, updated October 1, 2026, says the payout is a fixed $20. The binding terms name no amount: rewards are whatever the offer in your app specifies, and “These Terms govern in the event of conflict with marketing materials.” Check the figure in the app before you deposit, and plan on $20. The deposit and trade minimums are also shown only in the app.
The bonus payout is a fixed amount of $20 in your default currency.
What pays what
| New user, verified, deposits from a bank and trades real crypto in the window | $20 in the help pages, up to $75 on the referral page |
|---|---|
| Funding with a debit or credit card | Does not count |
| Converting dollars to a stablecoin, or swapping stablecoins | Does not count |
| Anyone who has ever had a Kraken account before | $0 |
Do this, in this order
- Sign up in the Kraken app through a referral link, as a brand new user. The reward only exists for people who have never held a Kraken account, and Kraken's help articles say the friend must sign up in the app. The person whose link you use must live in your country, or in any eligible EEA country if you are in the EEA. The help article lists referral countries as the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, Brazil and nine in Europe, and adds “Maine and New York are excluded”.
- Verify with an ID from your sign-up country. This is the quiet one: your government ID has to be from the same country you pick when you open the account. Kraken calls it the Document-Country Match, and it checks again when it works out your reward, so a mismatch quietly cancels the reward after you have done the work.
- Deposit from a bank, then trade real crypto. Kraken's referral page says the friend “must deposit fiat (cash) from a bank account”, and its help article excludes card deposits. Then buy or sell an actual cryptocurrency until you reach the trade total the app shows. Neither stablecoin swaps, stock trades nor Kraken's bundle products qualify.
- Finish inside 15 days, not 30. The referral page says to complete the offer “within 15 days of signing up”. The help articles say “you will have 30 days to perform the required actions”, with a countdown in the app. Work to the shorter one.
- Leave the account open for at least a month. The help articles say the bonus arrives within 14 days of qualifying (the referral page says to allow at least 14), and closing the account within a month of opening can reverse it. Its value can also move with the market between the moment you qualify and the moment it lands.
The fine print that can still cost you the reward
These are the lines in Kraken's terms that decide whether the reward lands.
It is not guaranteed until it is credited. Kraken works out your reward when you finish the steps, but only pays it after it verifies everything, and it can withhold, delay, cancel, or reverse a reward at its own discretion. Its call is final, and it can ask you for more ID documents along the way.
Your account has to be in good standing at payout, not just when you trade. The account must be active and verified at the moment the reward is issued. If you close it within a month of opening, or Kraken restricts or closes it, the reward is pulled back.
Do not trip the anti-abuse rules. One reward per new person. The referral page also allows “a maximum of 1 reward per device per household”. No second or fake accounts, no using a VPN to get around Kraken's country blocks, no wash trading or referring yourself. Kraken can deny a reward for anything it reads as gaming the promotion, even when you technically met every step.
The window is shorter than it looks. 15 days on the referral page, 30 in the help articles. Fund and trade before the shorter one closes. Miss it and the reward never attaches.
The value can move, and the tax is yours. The reward is paid in crypto, so its dollar value can drift between the moment you qualify and the moment it lands. Any gain can be taxable, Kraken may report it, and it does not give tax advice.
The amount and the minimum vary, and can change. The exact reward and the funding minimum depend on the offer shown to you in the app, and the reward can come as crypto or cash. Kraken can modify, pause, or cancel the whole program at any time, so treat today's numbers as today's.
If you refer friends yourself later
Kraken's pages disagree here too. The referral page says payouts up to $1,500 in total, the app help article says up to $1,000, and the Pro app article says up to $200. The referral page also pays for only ten, fifteen or twenty referrals, depending on your offer. Friends must live in your country, and promoting your link with paid search, social ads or sponsored posts gets it deactivated.
Is it worth your time?
At $20, the figure in Kraken's own help pages, it is a fair reward for opening an account you wanted anyway, and anything above that is a bonus. The whole thing hinges on the real-trade rule and the matching-ID rule, so treat those as the job and the rest takes about fifteen minutes.
