Gemini vs Kraken | Best Features & Lowest Trading Fees?
Jack Moreau
Feb 2024
9 min read
Fact checked
Gemini vs Kraken: Trying to choose between these two exchanges? Look no further. We've done the research on KYC requirements, country availability, product offerings, trading fees, deposit methods and more! Read on to find out which exchange comes out on top!
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
When it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges, Gemini and Kraken are two of the most well known and reliable US exchanges. Let's take a closer look at the basics of each exchange and see what they have to offer.
Gemini was founded in 2014 by the Winklevoss twins and is based in New York. With a strong emphasis on security and regulatory compliance, Gemini has become a trusted name in the industry.
Gemini exchange
The exchange offers a limited set of services including spot trading, recurring buys, staking, and Gemini Earn, a program that allows users to earn interest on their crypto holdings.
Gemini is estimated to have between 5 and 10 million registered users, and the company employs over 800 people mainly based in the US and Europe.
While both exchanges offer a decent range of cryptocurrencies, Kraken provides its users access to over 190 cryptocurrencies while Gemini offers a limited range of 50 mostly large-cap cryptocurrencies.
Moving on to Kraken, the exchange was founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell and is also based in the US with headquarters in San Francisco.
Kraken has a reputation for security, reliability, and not messing around when it comes to regulations.
Kraken exchange
The platform offers various services, such as spot trading, margin trading, futures trading, and staking, catering to both beginners and experienced traders.
Kraken has over 9 million users mainly based in countries like the United States, Canada and Europe, and the company employs over 2000 people.
Both Gemini and Kraken offer mobile apps on both Android and IOS devices. Gemini's app has been downloaded over 1 million times and has an average 3.8-star rating based on 50,000 reviews.
Gemini app
Kraken's app has been downloaded over 1 million times and has a strong 4.3-star rating with over 20,000 reviews.
Kraken app
Gemini vs Kraken Signup & KYC
Gemini and Kraken are two exchanges that both require KYC verification for their users. To open an account on Gemini, users need to enter their full name, password and country of residence.
The signup process is quick and can be completed in less than a minute. When it comes to getting verified, users need to upload some personal information together with a valid government ID.
Gemini signup
Then it's up to Gemini to verify that information which can be completed as quickly as one day or a few business days in the worst case.
Similar to Gemini, signing up for Kraken takes less than a minute and basic verification can be achieved in less than 2 minutes. This includes providing some personal information in order to deposit cryptocurrencies and trade.
KYC on Kraken
For those that want to be able to conduct fiat deposits higher withdrawals, full KYC is necessary which means also uploading a government ID.
Kraken's verification process can approve people as quickly as within 20 minutes in the best of cases and up to one business day in some others.
Gemini vs Kraken Products & Services
When it comes to product range, Gemini's is more limited than Kraken's with a smaller selection of products available to it's customers.
The platform offers spot trading for 50 large cap coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, a secure wallet for storing and managing digital assets safely, and custody services which offer enhanced protection for institutional clients.
Gemini cryptocurrencies
Additionally, the platform has its own stablecoin called Gemini Dollar which is pegged to the US dollar and an over-the-counter (OTC) desk, allowing users to trade large volumes of cryptocurrencies directly with other parties.
In terms of user experience, Gemini provides a very basic but slick interface that is suitable for beginners. The exchange makes it easy to deposit fiat currencies and conduct basic buying and selling of large cap cryptocurrencies.
Gemini interface
Kraken stands out as one of the oldest and most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, offering a solid selection of crypto products designed to meet the needs of retail clients, professional traders, and institutions.
Kraken USPs
The exchange offers four interfaces each catering to different levels of experience. These interfaces include Kraken, Kraken Classic, Kraken Pro, and an NFT Marketplace.
The default Kraken interface is an ideal starting point for beginners. It offers a simple and intuitive platform for exploring, buying, selling, receiving, and sending cryptocurrencies, making it perfect for those new to digital currencies.
Kraken Dashboard
Kraken Classic provides a more expanded dashboard, including access to a broader range of products, account settings, and an overview of security features. It's designed for users who are familiar with the basics of crypto trading.
Kraken Classic
For the seasoned trader, Kraken Pro presents a suitable and advanced platform. Here, users can access more sophisticated trading products.
The platform offers a spot trading order book that includes over 220 cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, SOL, ATOM, and many others.
Kraken Pro Spot Trading
Kraken also offers margin trading allowing users to long or short assets with up to 5X leverage across over 100 digital assets.
Adding to its advanced trading options, Kraken has introduced futures products, featuring over 90 perpetual contracts with competitive fees and leverage of up to 50X.
Kraken Crypto Futures
These futures contracts vary in maturity, including monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual options, and traders can choose between isolated margin to limit their risk or cross margin to use all their collateral across multiple positions.
Kraken Perpetuals
The exchange also includes an analytics section, providing traders with various data points to aid in making informed trading decisions.
As for trading volumes and liquidity, Kraken often ranks in the top 20 globally for 24/7 spot trading volumes, which frequently reach $1 billion.
Kraken Trading Volumes
However, Kraken has as of yet not been able to achieve the same level of success in the derivatives market with smaller trading volumes typically between $50-$100 million.
Kraken also offers staking options for over 20 cryptocurrencies including ALGO, ADA, ATOM, ETH, MATIC, DOT, SOL, MINA, among others.
Kraken Staking
In select countries, users can also earn interest on stablecoins like USDT and USDC, as well as on fiat currencies such as USD and EUR, with interest rates ranging from 3% to 5%.
Kraken Earn
For those that want to buy and sell NFTs and digital collectibles, Kraken supports NFTs on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, featuring a collection of over 250 digital collections. In some cases, users can trade these NFTs without incurring fees.
Kraken NFTs
Being based in the United States, Kraken adheres to stringent standards of transparency and accountability, setting it apart from many offshore exchanges. The company regularly provides proof of reserves to assure users that all funds are accounted for.
Additionally, for high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients, Kraken offers an exclusive OTC Desk for large, private trades.
Kraken OTC
This service provides quotes for orders ranging from $100,000 to $1 million, available 24/7, highlighting Kraken's commitment to high value clients.
Let's take a closer look at the trading fees offered by each exchange. Gemini charges a spot maker fee of 0.20% and a spot taker fee of 0.40%.
Gemini also offers rebates for those trading higher volumes. In order to take advantage of these fee reductions, users must trade for at least $10,000 during a 30-day period.
Gemini spot fees
Moving on to Kraken which charges lower trading fees than gemini. Kraken charges a spot maker fee of 0.16% and a spot taker fee of 0.26%.
Similar to Gemini, Kraken also provide a volume based rebate schedule where users can earn lower fees the more they trade.
Kraken spot fees
Lower trading fees for both spot and futures trading can be achieved if monthly trade volumes exceed $50,000. This can be a huge advantage for traders who plan to make frequent trades.
Unlike many offshore exchanges, Gemini and Kraken both offer users the ability to deposit fiat currencies.
Gemini supports 8 fiat currencies including USD, EUR, and GBP. Users can make deposits via crypto deposits, bank transfer (ACH/Wire), debit card transfers, and PayPal for USD, EUR, and GBP.
Fiat deposits via bank transfer are free of charge, while debit card transfers incur a fee of 3.49%, and PayPal has a 2.5% deposit fee.
On the other hand, Kraken supports deposits with 7 fiat currencies including USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, GBP, CHF, and JPY. Deposit methods offered by Kraken include Fedwire, SWIFT, ACH, SEPA, FPS, and more.
Kraken fiat deposit
Kraken offers free ACH deposits for USD, EUR, and CAD via bank transfers (ACH) and SEPA. Overall, both Gemini and Kraken offer a variety of deposit methods for fiat currencies with Kraken support more fiat currencies and more deposit options.
Let's take a closer look at what each exchange has to offer when it comes to fiat withdrawal methods.
Gemini allows users to withdraw fiat currencies (USD, EUR, and GBP) via bank transfer (ACH/Wire Transfer). These withdrawals are completely free of charge which is great for it's users.
When it comes to fees for cryptocurrency withdrawals, Gemini charges a small fee of 0.0001 BTC for Bitcoin and 0.005 SOL for Solana withdrawals. These fees are on the lower end so good job Gemini.
On the other hand, Kraken offers even more options for fiat currency withdrawals, with ACH (free), SEPA Fee (0.9 EUR), SWIFT ($4), and FPS (1.95 GBP) all available.
When it comes to cryptocurrency withdrawals, Kraken charges 0.00001 BTC for Bitcoin, 0.0035 ETH for Ethereum and 0.01 SOL for Solana. Users can also withdraw USDT for a fee of 3.55 USDT.
Overall, both Gemini and Kraken offer a range of withdrawal options and relatively low fees for cryptocurrency withdrawals.
However, Kraken has a slight edge when it comes to fiat currency withdrawals, offering more options and lower fees for certain currencies.
In conclusion, Gemini provides very few products to it's user. The ability to buy over 50 cryptocurrencies is the main product on Gemini and this is supported by a modern and easy to use interface that even total beginners can understand.
Gemini further offers free fiat deposits and withdrawals and trading fees that while not best in class, are not too shabby. Compared to Kraken, Gemini unfortunately does not have an advantage is any category.
Kraken offers a wider range of services than Gemini such as spot trading, margin trading, futures trading, staking, earn products and NFTs. As such, Kraken appeals to a wider audience beyond beginners.
Kraken offers much better liquidity than Gemini and it's frequently is in the top 10 with daily spot trading volumes in the range of $300 to $600 million.
This means that spreads are lower on Kraken than Gemini which translates into more bang for your bucks.
Similar to Gemini, on Kraken users can deposit and withdraw fiat currencies such as USD, EUR, GBP and JPY and do so for free or at a low cost.
Considering that both exchanges are based in the US and follow regulations very closely, these are both safe and trusted exchanges that can be relied.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC: Investments are subject to market risk. Including the possible loss of principal. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.
Author
Jack Moreau
Jack is a crypto writer and reviewer who has been active in the space since he caught the crypto bug in 2017. With a passion for trying out new shiny things, Jack is always eager to try the latest cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets or DeFi applications.
