Kraken Referral Bonus and Promo Code: What You Really Get

Sign-up bonus

Up to $20 USDG on the main Kraken app offer; up to $100 on the Canadian and Australian pages. Shown in your offer before you qualify.

Fee discount (kickback)A kickback is the share of your own trading fees the platform hands back to you, usually for as long as the account exists.

None. Kraken referrals pay a one-time bonus, not an ongoing fee kickback.

Referrer reward

The inviter gets the same bonus as you, capped at 10, 15 or 20 paid referrals depending on the offer (up to $200 USDG on the standard page).

KYCKnow Your Customer: identity verification with an ID document and often a selfie, required by regulated platforms before bonuses or withdrawals.

Required. You cannot deposit fiat or trade on Kraken without verifying your identity.

Withdrawable?

Paid into your Kraken account as USDG, cash or crypto, as the offer states. Kraken does not describe it as a trading-only voucher.

Availability

Most countries per Kraken; the Pro offer lists the US (except Maine, Washington and New York), Canada and seven EU countries. Friend must live in your country (or the EEA).

How the bonus unlocksWhat you must do (deposit, trade a volume, hold funds) before the bonus becomes usable or withdrawable.

Create the account in the app via the link, deposit fiat from a bank account, then meet the minimum trade volume in non-stablecoin crypto within 15 days (30 days on the Kraken Pro offer).

Search for a Kraken referral code and you will find pages promising “$100 free” or “up to $2,000” without a word about where those numbers apply. The Kraken referral program is simpler and smaller than that. It pays a one-time bonus to both people once the new user deposits money from a bank account and buys real crypto inside a short window. On Kraken’s main referral page that bonus is up to $20 USDG each. Some country pages show more.

This review sticks to what Kraken publishes on its own referral pages, explains the parts that trip people up (stablecoins, crypto deposits, the hidden volume threshold) and shows what the bonus is worth once you subtract Kraken’s fees.

• $20maximum USDG bonus each on Kraken's standard referral offer
• 15 daysto deposit fiat and complete the trade after sign-up
• 14+ daysKraken's stated wait before the bonus arrives
• 0stablecoin purchases that count toward the requirement

How the Kraken referral program works

Kraken calls it a Referral Bonus: a reward granted to both the referring user and the referred user once the referral requirements are met. There is no ongoing commission share and no fee discount. You get a lump sum, the inviter gets a lump sum, and the relationship ends there.

The requirements on Kraken’s referral page are short. The friend must be new to Kraken, must create the account in the mobile app using the invite link or code, must deposit fiat, and must complete the terms of the offer within 15 days of signing up. The additional terms add two details that matter: the fiat must come from a bank account, and the friend must meet “all additional requirements such as minimum trade volume”.

The one number Kraken does not publish on its public page is the minimum trade volume. It sits inside your personal offer in the app. That is a transparency gap, and it is the main reason we scored the program lower than its simplicity would suggest.

Kraken referral bonus amounts by region

Kraken uses one set of rules but shows different headline amounts depending on which country version of the page you open. That is why code sites contradict each other.

Kraken’s blog announcement of the app program described a $20 USDG bonus, or CAD 20 or EUR 20 depending on where you live. The later Kraken Pro announcement mentioned $50 USDG or a local equivalent in BTC. Those posts are announcements, not terms, and the live page is what counts. One localized version of the FAQ even describes the reward as a random cash amount between $7 and $200. Treat every headline figure as “up to” and check the number inside your own Referrals screen before you deposit.

USDGUSDG is a US-dollar stablecoin (Global Dollar) that Kraken uses for payouts and promotions. One USDG is designed to be worth one US dollar. deserves a short explanation, because it is how most bonuses land. It is a dollar-pegged stablecoin, so $20 USDG is worth about $20. You can hold it, convert it or use it to buy other crypto.

Why your stablecoin purchase does not count

This is the most common way people lose the Kraken referral bonus. Kraken’s terms say it twice: stablecoin trades do not qualify as completion criteria, and fiat-to-stablecoin trades do not qualify for the reward. You must purchase non-stablecoin crypto.

So if you deposit $200 and buy USDC to “get started safely”, nothing happens. The clock keeps running, and when 15 days pass, the offer lapses. Buy a volatile asset instead, even a small amount of Bitcoin. If you want stablecoins later, you can convert afterwards, once the bonus requirement is met.

What the bonus is worth after Kraken’s fees

Kraken’s app is built for simple buying, and it is not the cheapest way to trade. According to Kraken’s fee schedule, the app charges a 1% trading fee on instant and recurring trades and 1.5% on custom orders, and the price you see includes a spread on top. Kraken+ subscribers get zero trading fees on up to $10,000 a month of buy, sell and convert volume, but spreads still apply.

Here is a rough worked example for the standard $20 USDG offer, assuming your required trade volume is met by the purchase shown. The spread varies and is not included.

Two lessons come out of this. First, the referral bonus easily covers the fee on a normal first purchase. Second, the bonus does not scale: buying more does not raise it, and the 1% fee keeps growing. If you plan to trade larger amounts, move to Kraken Pro after the first purchase. Kraken Pro uses a maker-takerMaker orders add liquidity by resting on the order book (usually limit orders). Taker orders fill immediately against existing orders (market orders) and pay a higher fee. fee schedule with volume discounts, which is far cheaper than 1% per trade. Our guide to maker vs taker fees explains how to stay on the cheaper side.

Is there a Kraken promo code?

People search for “Kraken promo code” far more often than for the referral program itself, so it is worth being direct. Kraken does not advertise a public promo code that every new user can type in for a bonus. What exists is the invite link or invite code from an existing user. When you enter it during sign-up in the app, Kraken attaches the referral offer to your new account.

That means two things. A “promo code” that promises more than the amount shown on Kraken’s own referral page for your country is not a different deal, it is the same referral bonus described generously. And a code only works at account creation. If you already registered, no code you find later will add a bonus. Our guide on how to use a referral code covers the timing issue across exchanges.

Who can use a Kraken referral code

Kraken’s main page says the program is available in most countries globally, while some offers appear only in the Kraken Pro interface. The Kraken Pro referral terms are more specific: they list the United States (excluding Maine, Washington and New York), Canada, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Ireland.

There is also a residency rule that catches cross-border invites. The friend must live in the same country as the inviter. The only exception is the European Economic Area: an inviter in an eligible EEA country can refer someone in any other eligible EEA country. A US user cannot earn a bonus by inviting a friend in Canada, and vice versa.

Identity verification is unavoidable. You cannot deposit fiat or trade on Kraken without it, so the referral bonus effectively requires full verification. Our guide to KYC for crypto bonuses explains what documents to prepare so the 15-day window is not wasted waiting for approval.

Kraken app vs Kraken Pro referrals

Kraken runs referral offers in both its app and its Kraken Pro interface, and the rules differ slightly.

The longer 30-day window on the Pro offer is the more forgiving deal if you are slow to get verified. Either way, the bonus is one-time.

What the inviter earns

For the person sharing the code, the reward mirrors yours: up to $20 USDG per friend on the standard offer, with the total limited to 10, 15 or 20 qualifying referrals depending on the offer shown in their app. Kraken bans paid advertising of invite links (search ads, social ads and sponsored posts) and deactivates links promoted that way. Sharing by text, email and messaging apps is allowed.

The structure explains why Kraken codes are promoted less aggressively than Binance or Bybit codes. There is no lifetime commission, so an inviter gains nothing once the friend has qualified. If you want to understand why some exchanges pay inviters for years and others pay once, read our explainer on referral kickbacks.

Kraken vs other US-friendly sign-up bonuses

Kraken is not the only exchange that welcomes US users with a referral bonus, and it is useful to compare the conditions rather than the headline numbers.

Kraken’s bonus is modest, but its terms are among the clearer ones, and it pays both sides equally. For a wider list, see our page on US crypto bonuses and the full exchange comparison.

Is a Kraken referral code worth using?

If you are opening a Kraken account anyway, yes: there is no downside to using the link, and the bonus covers more than the fee on a normal first purchase. The catches are all about timing and asset choice. Verify quickly, send money from your bank rather than from another exchange, and buy a non-stablecoin asset until the volume shown in your offer is reached. Then wait two weeks or more for the payout to appear.

If you are choosing an exchange only for the bonus, Kraken is not the biggest number on the table. Its appeal is that the reward is plain money in your account, with no voucher expiry and no lock-up, which is more than many larger-looking offers can say.