Kraken vs OKX: fees, EU licences and which to choose

Kraken vs OKX is a rare comparison in which both exchanges can legally serve you in the EU. Kraken holds a MiCA authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland, OKX Europe one from the Malta Financial Services Authority, and both offer spot trading, staking and MiFID II-regulated futures to EU users in one account.

The differences are cost, range and record. OKX charges far lower spot fees, but only its X-Perps account holders get the lowest rate, and its operator pleaded guilty in the US in 2025. Kraken lists more coins and fiat currencies and has no EU fines in our data, but its entry fees rose to 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker in July 2026. We checked every figure below on each exchange’s official pages on 23 October 2026.

Kraken vs OKX: the short answer

For active traders in the EU, OKX is cheaper. For readers who want a wider coin list, more fiat currencies and a lighter regulatory record, Kraken is the better fit, at higher fees.

• Choose OKX if you trade often, want spot fees from 0.10% and free SEPA withdrawals, and you’re comfortable opening an X-Perps derivatives account to get the lowest rate.
• Choose Kraken if you want 600+ coins, euros alongside USD, GBP or CHF, UK access, and a crypto exchange with no EU fines in our data.
• Choose neither if you’re a beginner buying €50 to €100 a month and want the simplest app at the lowest price.

Read our full Kraken review and OKX review for each exchange on its own.

Kraken vs OKX licences: can EU users use both?

Yes. Since 1 July 2026 only MiCA-authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services in the EU, and both Kraken and OKX appear in ESMA’s MiCA register (update of 22 October 2026).

Kraken: MiCA from the Central Bank of Ireland

Payward Europe Solutions Limited was authorised under MiCA on 25 June 2025, and a second company, Payward Global Solutions Limited, is authorised to operate the trading platform. Futures run through Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, licensed by CySEC under MiFID II (licence 342/17), and euro e-money services through Payward Ireland Limited. The licence is passported to every EEA country.

OKX Europe: MiCA from the MFSA in Malta

OKX Europe Limited was authorised under MiCA on 27 January 2025, for custody, operating a trading platform, exchange, order execution, placing and reception and transmission of orders, passported to the other EEA states. OKX runs X-Perps through a Maltese MiFID II investment firm it bought in March 2025. Dutch users were moved to OKX Europe after a DNB fine for earlier unregistered service.

Outside the EU

Kraken serves the UK through Payward Limited, registered with the FCA since November 2021, and the US through Payward Interactive, Inc., whose state licence list doesn’t include New York. OKX gives UK users a limited offer with financial promotions approved by Gateway 21 Ltd, and serves US users through a separate OKX US platform launched in April 2025.

Kraken vs OKX trading fees

OKX’s spot fees are lower than Kraken’s at every entry rate we checked. With an X-Perps account OKX charges 0.08% maker and 0.10% taker; without one, 0.20% and 0.35%. Kraken Pro charges 0.40% maker and 0.80% taker at the entry tier, and the simple Kraken app 1% plus a spread.

OKX’s X-Perps condition

OKX’s EEA fee table, updated 3 September 2026, ties the lowest spot fees to an X-Perps (derivatives) account. You don’t have to trade futures to qualify, only to open the account, but read the X-Perps terms first. EEA VIP tiers start from €100,001 in total assets or by 30-day volume, some pairs such as USDC-EUR trade at zero fees, and the EEA table shows no OKB discount.

Kraken Pro and the Kraken app

Kraken restructured its Kraken Pro fees in July 2026: the entry tier rose from 0.25% maker and 0.40% taker to 0.40% and 0.80%. Fees fall with 30-day volume on one shared ladder, counting spot volume, futures volume or assets held, and stablecoin and FX pairs cost 0.20%. The Kraken app charges 1% on direct and recurring buys (1.5% for custom orders) plus a variable spread; Kraken+ members pay no app trading fee on up to $10,000 a month, but the spread still applies.

Worked example: €100 and €1,000

Here is what spot trading costs at entry rates, as trade size × fee rate.

Even without X-Perps, OKX’s taker fee is less than half of Kraken Pro’s. On a €1,000 market buy, the gap is €7.00 with X-Perps and €4.50 without.

A full round trip

Say you deposit €1,000 by SEPA, buy bitcoin with a market order, later sell €1,000 worth with another market order and withdraw the euros to your bank account.

• Kraken Pro: €0 + €8.00 + €8.00 + €1.00 = €17.00, or 1.7%.
• OKX with X-Perps: €0 + €1.00 + €1.00 + €0 = €2.00.
• OKX without X-Perps: €0 + €3.50 + €3.50 + €0 = €7.00.

With limit orders on Kraken Pro, the same trip costs €4.00 + €4.00 + €1.00 = €9.00.

Deposits, withdrawals and card buys

Both take free SEPA deposits. OKX also charges nothing for SEPA withdrawals (your bank may charge), while Kraken charges €1 for a standard SEPA withdrawal and €0.90 via SEPA Instant. On OKX, euro bank transfers are limited to verified EEA residents and your first withdrawal needs proof that the bank account is yours; on Kraken, the name on the bank account must match your account.

Card purchases cost 1.99% on OKX, so €1.99 on €100 and €19.90 on €1,000. Kraken doesn’t publish its card purchase fee on its funding page. To withdraw bitcoin, Kraken charges 0.000015 BTC and OKX from 0.000015 BTC, depending on the network. OKX’s convert has zero trading fees, but its spread isn’t published.

Futures fees

Futures fees are the same at entry level: 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker on Kraken (under $5 million of futures volume) and on OKX’s X-Perps regular tier. Opening and closing a €1,000 position with market orders costs €0.50 + €0.50 = €1.00 on either, before funding payments. Our Kraken fees page breaks down every Kraken cost.

OKX vs Kraken products and crypto trading tools

Kraken offers more coins and fiat currencies; OKX packs more trading tools for active users into its EEA account. Both offer staking, a card, an app and an API.

Coins and fiat currencies

Kraken’s public API listed more than 600 base assets with live pairs (our count). OKX’s API showed about 270 assets with EUR pairs for EEA users. Kraken supports seven fiat currencies (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF, CAD, AUD and JPY); OKX Europe supports EUR and PLN.

Futures and margin for EU users

Both offer derivatives under MiFID II, and both are for experienced traders only. Kraken’s CySEC-licensed firm offers futures to EEA clients who pass an appropriateness test, with extra product and leverage limits; its spot margin is for “eligible clients”, and we couldn’t confirm whether EU retail clients qualify. OKX launched spot margin for EEA customers in December 2025, with up to 10x leverage on BTC and ETH against USDC, and X-Perps in April 2026: futures with a five-year expiry and up to 10x leverage.

Staking, earn products and cards

Both offer staking. OKX serves copy trading and Earn pages on its EEA site, but we didn’t verify their exact EEA scope; we didn’t verify copy trading on Kraken either. Kraken’s card is a Mastercard issued by UAB Monavate in Lithuania, and the OKX Card, also a Mastercard, launched in Europe in January 2026. Rewards and yield on exchange products can change or stop, and your coins sit with the exchange while they earn.

Kraken vs OKX security, proof of reserves and regulatory compliance

Both publish proof of reserves, and OKX’s is more recent, while Kraken has the lighter regulatory record. Neither publishes how much of customer funds it keeps in cold storage.

Proof of reserves

OKX publishes monthly reserves audits using a Merkle tree and zk-STARK. Its 48th report, an October 2026 snapshot, showed $29.4 billion in primary assets and a BTC reserve ratio of 110%. Kraken publishes a Merkle-tree proof of reserves checked by an independent accountant, with the latest snapshot dated 30 June 2026. Kraken’s card page also says major crypto assets are held 1:1 and covered by £125 million of insurance, without detailing the scope. Proof of reserves is a snapshot, not insurance.

Track record

OKX’s record is heavier. In February 2025 Aux Cayes FinTech, its global operator, pleaded guilty in the US to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to pay about $504 million. Malta’s FIAU fined OKX’s European arm about €1.1 million in April 2025, and DNB fined Aux Cayes FinTech €2.25 million for serving Dutch customers without registration from July 2023 to August 2024. OKX suspended crypto withdrawals from 16 October to late November 2020 during a police investigation in China, and briefly suspended its DEX aggregator in March 2025 after misuse by the Lazarus group.

Kraken paid $362,159 to OFAC in 2022 over apparent Iran sanctions violations and $30 million in 2023 to settle SEC charges over its US staking programme. The SEC’s 2023 lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in March 2025. We found no EU fines, and we make no claim either way about past security incidents, because we haven’t completed a dedicated check.

Customer support

Kraken offers 24/7 in-app support and a support centre. We couldn’t confirm OKX’s support channels for EEA users, and we haven’t tested either.

Who should choose Kraken or OKX?

Both can serve you in the EU, so choose by how you trade.

Choose OKX if

• you’re an active trader and want spot fees from 0.10%;
• you want free SEPA deposits and withdrawals;
• you’re fine opening an X-Perps account, or paying 0.35% taker without it.

Choose Kraken if

• you want the wider coin list and several fiat currencies;
• you weigh a lighter regulatory record over the lowest fee;
• you can use Kraken Pro limit orders to bring the fee down to 0.40%.

Choose neither if

• you’re a beginner who wants a simple app for small monthly buys;
• you want real stocks and ETFs covered by investor compensation.

Other crypto exchanges to compare

If OKX’s X-Perps condition puts you off, compare it with an app-first rival in OKX vs Crypto.com. If Kraken’s fees are the problem, Kraken vs Gate.io weighs it against a 0.10% exchange licensed in Malta. Former Binance users can read Binance vs OKX.

How we built this Kraken vs OKX comparison

We’re an editorial team, and we didn’t open accounts for this comparison. On 23 October 2026 we checked both exchanges’ fee schedules, funding and withdrawal pages, legal disclosures, proof-of-reserves pages and public APIs, plus ESMA’s MiCA register and regulator notices. Our scoring follows our methodology. Nothing here is financial advice; crypto-assets can lose all their value.