Bitvavo vs Kraken

Bitvavo and Kraken are both centralized exchanges that hold a MiCA licence and require identity verification. Both let you buy and sell crypto on the spot market and both offer staking. The main difference is scope: Bitvavo keeps to spot trading, while Kraken adds futures, leverage and tokenized stocks.

Bitvavo vs Kraken

Category	BBitvavo8.9/10	KKraken9.3/10
Overview
CryptoWinRate score	8.9/10	9.3/10 (higher)
Founded	2018	2011
Headquarters	Amsterdam	San Francisco, USA
Founder	Mark Nuvelstijn	Jesse Powell
CEO	Mark Nuvelstijn	David Ripley
KYC	Required	Required
MiCA licence	Yes	Yes
Regulator	Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM)	Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)
Availability
Available in your country	—	—
Restricted countries	188 countries	6 countries
Deposits and withdrawals
Deposit methods	8 methods	9 methods
Withdrawal methods	2 methods	7 methods
24-hour withdrawal limitKYC 1	€25,000	$500,000
24-hour withdrawal limitKYC 2	—	$10,000,000
Trading fees
Spot maker fee	0.15% (lower)	0.4%
Spot taker fee	0.25% (lower)	0.8%
EU spot feesmaker/taker	0.15% / 0.25% (lower)	0.4% / 0.8%
Futures maker fee	—	0.02%
Futures taker fee	—	0.05%
Coins and markets
Spot assetscrypto	426	684 (higher)
EU coins	426	684 (higher)
Futures contractscrypto	—	178
Stocks	—	130
ETFs	—	49
FX pairs	—	3
Indices	—	1
Commodities	—	6
Leverage and margin
Max leverage	—	50×
EU max leverage	—	10×
Spot margin	—	10×
Features
Spot	Yes	Yes
Futures	No	Yes
Demo Trading	No	Yes
Lending	Yes	No
Staking	Yes	Yes
Debit card	No	Yes
Security
Proof of reserves	YesAttestation ↗	YesAttestation ↗
Cold storage	Yes	Yes
Two-factor authentication	Yes	Yes
Withdrawal address whitelist	Yes	Yes
Anti-phishing passphrase	No	No
Reported hacks	—	YesSource ↗
Sign-up bonus
Bonus	10€	—
Fee cashback	—	10%
	Visit Bitvavo ↗Read review →	Visit Kraken ↗Read review →

Availability in your country is checked live against each exchange's restricted-country list.

Who should choose Bitvavo

Bitvavo suits someone who wants to buy and hold crypto without extra machinery. Its spot fees are lower, at 0.15% maker and 0.25% taker, so casual buyers keep more of each trade. You get 426 coins on spot plus staking and lending if you want to earn on what you hold. It holds a MiCA licence, and there are no futures or leverage to complicate things.

Who should choose Kraken

Kraken fits a trader who wants more than plain buying and selling. It carries 684 spot coins, futures on 168 coins across 178 markets, leverage up to 50x, and 130 tokenized stocks. Futures fees are low at 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker. A debit card, demo trading and staking round it out, and it also holds a MiCA licence. Spot fees are higher than Bitvavo’s.

Verdict

Pick Bitvavo if you mainly want cheap spot buying and holding with staking. Pick Kraken if you want futures, leverage, tokenized stocks or a demo account to practice on, and can accept higher spot fees in return.