Kraken Wallet vs Coinbase Wallet – Which is Best in 2024?

Coinbase and Kraken are two of the leading crypto exchanges globally. But today, we are not talking about cryptocurrency trading platforms but wallets. Yes, that’s right. These two popular brands offer crypto wallets to help you manage and store your crypto assets while giving you access to the wild world of Web3.

Today, in this article, we’ll take a deep dive into each of these wallets to help decide just which one is the best option for you to explore crypto. So, without wasting any time, let’s get started on Kraken Wallet vs Coinbase Wallet comparison!

Kraken Wallet vs Coinbase Wallet Compared

Here’s a quick look at how these wallets compare to each other:

What are Kraken Wallet and Coinbase Wallet?

The multi-trillion-dollar crypto space is brimming with exciting and lucrative opportunities, but to capitalize on them, you need a crypto wallet. This wallet functions like a digital version of your physical wallet, storing your cash and cards. Instead of holding crypto physically, it keeps the public and private keys necessary to access your crypto, providing digital signatures to authorize each transaction.

Crypto wallets are primarily of two types—cold and hot wallets. Cold wallets, such as paper and hardware wallets, are physical devices disconnected from the internet, storing your crypto entirely offline. In contrast, hot wallets are connected to the internet, offering ease of use, and include desktop, mobile, and web wallets.

This article will discuss Coinbase Wallet and Kraken Wallet. They are both self-custodial wallets, which differ from the “hosted” wallets offered by centralized exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase. Let’s take a deeper dive into each of these wallets!

Kraken Wallet Overview

Founded in 2011, Kraken ranks among the top five cryptocurrency exchanges globally, boasting nearly $1 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

Kraken launched its self-custodial mobile wallet recently, in April 2024. At its launch, Kraken Wallet released the app’s code on the developer platform GitHub, making it fully open-source to enhance the wallet’s security.

In addition to giving users complete control over their assets, this hot wallet incorporates biometric authentication and encryption technologies to provide world-class security.

Users will particularly appreciate that Kraken does not collect any more customer data than necessary. The wallet does not retain sign-in details, email addresses, or know-your-customer (KYC) information, thus protecting user privacy. It also hides user IP addresses and refrains from tracking, collecting, or sharing any internal app performance analytics.

The self-custodial Kraken Wallet allows crypto traders to manage their tokens, NFTs, and DeFi positions across various popular blockchain networks. It also facilitates connections to popular decentralized applications (dApps).

Additionally, Kraken Wallet provides round-the-clock customer support. With Kraken’s robust security backing, this wallet has attracted the attention of both crypto enthusiasts and veterans.

Coinbase Wallet Overview

Founded in 2012, Coinbase is the leading crypto exchange in the US, recording over $2 billion in trading volume in the past 24 hours. In April 2021, Coinbase (COIN) went public, achieving a valuation of about $100 billion.

Coinbase introduced its self-custody wallet as a mobile app in 2017, providing users with an easy way to store and manage their crypto, NFTs, and multiple wallets in one location. Over the years, Coinbase has enhanced its Wallet to make the ever-growing world of dApps more accessible and to offer a more refined user experience.

Using this wallet, you have full control over your digital assets, which are secured with cryptographic measures, including two-factor authentication (2FA). It also employs a dApp blocklist—a combination of public and private databases—to protect users from malicious applications.

Coinbase Wallet is accessible both on your phone and through a browser, enabling you to view and store hundreds of thousands of coins, from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Solana, Dogecoin, and ERC-20 tokens. You can also store and view your NFTs supported across top chains.

Additionally, the Wallet allows you to delve into the DeFi sector to earn yield, utilize liquidity pools, join decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), explore decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and expand your assets.

This wallet has established itself as one of the safest hot wallets in the crypto market, allowing users to safely navigate the dynamic world of crypto. While Coinbase Wallet provides customer support in several languages, customer service has historically been the company’s weakest aspect.

Supported Cryptocurrencies

Over the past decade, the crypto industry has grown significantly, with the rise of blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) fueling an explosion of tokens. Today, there are millions of different cryptos and tokens in existence.

While Bitcoin remains a cornerstone, Ethereum has also secured its own spot ETF, and Solana enjoys robust community support. Still, these coins are just the tip of the iceberg. To take full advantage of the crypto sector and its varying opportunities, you need access to a wide range of tokens.

After all, meme coins, real-world assets (RWA), artificial intelligence (AI), and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePin) narratives have proven more popular and profitable than traditional layer 1 solutions this year.

So, when it comes to the crypto selection of these wallets, Kraken Wallet supports more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies, covering a wide range of categories for you to play around with. The fact that it’s only been a few months since Kraken Wallet was launched and it already offers wide coverage adds to its value.

Much like Kraken, Coinbase Wallet also supports a wide range of networks and tokens, so you’ll be just as spoiled for choice here as on Kraken. While Coinbase did start out with support for a small number of cryptos, it has come a long way since its early days. With support for every ERC20 token, Coinbase Wallet’s token selection actually surpasses Coinbase Exchange.

So, both the Wallets provide extensive crypto support, allowing you to have all the fun. While Coinbase includes even lesser-known altcoins, Kraken also provides access to coins that may not be as widely available, allowing you to diversify your portfolio with quality projects. Additionally, Kraken gives you the opportunity to experience the intense volatility of low-cap altcoins.

The best feature of both wallets is the convenience of storing all your cryptocurrencies in one place. You can manage multiple wallets within a single application, giving you comprehensive access to the entire crypto sector.  This eliminates the need to switch between different wallets to track your funds, tokens, and NFTs. You can monitor both your long-term holdings and speculative (degen) portfolio in one unified wallet.

Web3 Exploration Capabilities

While a good selection of crypto is a must, the growth of the Web3 sector means a wallet needs to offer seamless and secure interaction with decentralized applications.

So, do Coinbase Wallet and Kraken Wallet support this?

First, let’s take a look at Coinbase Wallet. This wallet has an in-built DEX that allows you to swap one crypto for another. It actually allows seamless integration with a wide range of dApps. So, for all the exciting DeFi protocols and blockchain games that you have been wanting to explore, you can do so via Coinbase Wallet. With its Web3 browser, you can search for dApps and filter them by categories such as DeFi, Games, SocialFi, DEXs, and more.

Using its Web3 functionality, you can earn rewards, participate in airdrops, and browse NFTs. In the NFT realm, Coinbase wallets enable you to buy, sell, and manage a vast range of NFT collections which are supported for multiple blockchains.

Coinbase is constantly improving its products and has even launched a smart wallet to get on-chain faster and easier. You don’t need to download any app or extension here. Simply visit wallet.coinbase.com to store, swap, mint, and do more with just your fingerprint. With instant wallet creation, Coinbase’s smart wallet enables you to view and organize all your crypto, NFTs, and DeFi positions at once, as well as trade with all of your wallets.

The smart wallet currently supports the following dApps: Lucidity, Seamless, Zora, Moonwell, Speedtracer, Frenpet, Cat.town, Infusion, Avantis, Stargate, Aerodrome, Trade Joe, DODO, PnackaeSwap, Layer3, MatchaOx, Synapse, Dynamic, Kwenta, JOJO Exchange, and Token Proof with more coming soon.

Kraken Wallet, on the other hand, allows Web3 exploration by integrating WalletConnect, a protocol that enables secure and trustless communication between dApps and Web3 wallets.

WalletConnect is a widely popular way for protocols to allow users to interact with dApps, covering everything from games, DeFi, gambling, exchanges, collectibles, marketplaces, socials, and more.

Through a straightforward connection process, you can begin interacting with blockchains via your Kraken Wallet. This means you can send transactions, sign messages, and interact with DeFi protocols or NFT marketplaces. For NFTs, Kraken Wallet supports Ethereum and ETH L2s, including Base, Optimism, and the Polygon and Solana networks.

While Coinbase Wallet is feature-packed, Kraken Wallet offers simplicity and, through WalletConnect, provides comprehensive access to the Web3 world.

Fees

One of the most important aspects to consider when choosing a wallet is fees. Ideally, you should opt for one that charges low fees so you can use most of your capital.

Coinbase is notorious for its high fees, especially for retail users. Institutions, however, enjoy competitive trading fees at this publicly traded crypto exchange. For example, ACH transfers are free, while wire transfers incur an additional fee of $10, and using a bank account or credit card adds costs of 1.49% and 3.9%, respectively. However, you may avoid such high fees with Coinbase Wallet because it primarily operates on-chain.

For starters, Coinbase Wallet or Kraken Wallet do not charge fees for holding, receiving, or storing assets. Both wallets are completely free to download and use.

However, gas fees will apply to on-chain transactions for both wallets, depending on the network you are using. These fees will vary based on the blockchain’s usage at the time. If you transfer your crypto to the wallet, a fee applies, unlike when you transfer between the exchange and the custodial exchange wallet.

Transaction fees also apply when you mint NFTs or utilize a DeFi protocol to earn rewards or lend your crypto. To minimize these fees, consider using lower-fee blockchains like Solana and Polygon.

With Coinbase Wallet, you also have to pay a fee when using its built-in fiat on-ramp. This fee depends on the payment methods used, such as bank accounts and card payments, and it varies depending on the third-party payment providers you choose.

For instance, Banxa charges a fee typically ranging from 2% to 4% of the transaction amount, while using Coinify can cost up to 3.5%, and Transak can be even higher. Additionally, Coinbase Wallet charges a 1% fee on transactions involving crypto swapping.

Mobile App

Now that we’ve covered the user-friendliness of both wallets, let’s look at their mobile apps. Both are available in the App Store and Google Play, allowing the majority of users to secure their crypto and explore the world of dApps.

Getting started with either wallet is straightforward. Let’s see how to do that.

Kraken Wallet

Start by downloading the wallet. You can do this from Kraken’s official website or the respective app stores for your iOS and Android devices. On Google Play, Kraken Wallet has achieved over 10,000 downloads in just three months.

Once downloaded and installed, begin by saving your passphrase and setting up biometric authentication.

On the front page, you can see your balance in fiat currency, with seven supported so far: USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, JPY, and CHF.

To fund your account, click on the send and receive option. The settings button, located at the top right, lets you manage your wallet, enhance security with app lock and password, and choose your language, currency, and other general app-related options.

Next to the settings button, there’s the WalletConnect symbol, which allows you to connect to different dApps.

To connect your Kraken Wallet with Web3 apps, go to the dApp you want to use, tap Connect Wallet, and Select WalletConnect. Then, on your mobile device that has the Kraken Wallet, tap the sign for WalletConnect on the right side, scan the QR code, and you can get started.

When using Web3 apps on your phone, there is no need to scan either; just tap on WalletConnect and then select Kraken Wallet. Once done, you can use Kraken Wallet to claim free NFTs, register your on-chain name, borrow and lend crypto on decentralized lending protocols like Aave, and do much more.

Coinbase Wallet

Again, start by downloading the wallet, which can be done from the official website of Coinbase or from the App Store or Google Play, where the app has achieved over 10 million downloads in almost seven years.

As you launch the app, the Coinbase wallet bursts into colorful visuals, asking you to either create a new wallet or select ‘I already have one.’ You can allow it to have FaceID or not, the same as Kraken Wallet.

Then, you have to choose a 6-digit passcode to unlock the wallet. This password, however, is not used to recover the wallet.

Next, you’ll have the option to create a username for free. Standard addresses are too long and difficult to remember, so Coinbase Wallet gives you a free ENS name, which will become your address. This will make it easy for you to remember your wallet address and for people to find you and send crypto. You can choose to do it later, too.

Now, you have your very own Coinbase Wallet. While that’s it, do not forget to backup your recovery phase. To do that, go to settings, click on address 1 or your wallet name, and then the recovery phrase.

In addition to mobile applications for Android and iOS devices, Coinbase Wallet is also available as a desktop browser extension for Chrome and the crypto-native Brave browser. To get started, just download the extension, pin it to your browser for easier access, open it, click on ‘create new wallet,’ set up a password, back up your recovery phrase, and confirm it, and you can start using it.

Kraken Wallet vs Coinbase Wallet Features

To make it easy for crypto users to enjoy the full extent of all that the industry has to offer, Kraken Wallet and Coinbase Wallet come packed with features that will enhance your entire experience.

So, let’s see all that these wallets have to offer you and how they compare to each other.

Kraken Wallet Features 

As we talked about above, Kraken Wallet is pretty simple and comes with basic features. Given the fact that it’s just three months old compared to Coinbase wallet’s 7 years, Kraken wallet is just starting out.

With Kraken Wallet, you can send, receive, and store various crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Solana, and Dogecoin. Users can access, confirm transactions, and send and receive on-chain freely, without tracking or data sharing.

Meanwhile, using WalletConnect, you can explore Web3 extensively. This means everything from swapping, lending, borrowing, yield farming, and decentralized crypto trading to participating in blockchain-based games, engaging with decentralized community platforms and DAOs, staking to earn rewards, and more.

The wallet enables you to view and manage your NFTs and DeFi positions in one place. It also supports push notifications for quick communication.

These features make Kraken Wallet a great option for beginners who can HODL crypto in peace. If they want to venture out, they can take advantage of WalletConnect integration and explore thousands of apps.

Coinbase Wallet Features

In comparison, Coinbase Wallet is also feature-rich but may feel overwhelming for those who prefer a simpler interface.

Like Kraken Wallet, Coinbase Wallet allows you to send and receive crypto, but it offers additional options such as buying, swapping, and cashing out.

For buying and cashing out, Coinbase Wallet offers fiat currencies support via third-party providers such as Banxa, Coinify, Alchemy Pay, and Transak. These providers help Coinbase Wallet support several payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, wire transfers, Apple Pay, Nettler, Skrill, and Cash App.

However, all of these third-party providers have different minimum deposits and charge hefty fees. So, it’s better to buy and sell crypto from a CEX with a fiat on-and-off ramp, as it’s far cheaper and more convenient than wallets.

Coinbase Wallet here also allows you to ‘Connect to Coinbase,’ an option available in the settings, using which you can buy or transfer crypto with its centralized exchange. When you click on ‘Buy or transfer with Coinbase,’ you’ll be directed to the Coinbase app, so you better have that ready in case you want to use it.

The cash-out option, meanwhile, is only supported via Alchemy Pay, and you’ll be directed to their website for that.

Through Coinbase Wallet, you can also send USDC stablecoins to family and friends abroad instantly and for free. The exchange Coinbase actually has a stake in Circle, the issuer of USDC.

When it comes to earning opportunities at Coinbase, you can earn up to $75 in crypto by completing quests. These quests range from minting an NFT and delegating tokens to get ETH on Coinbase’s L2 Base to tokenizing your first domain on-chain. However, since these activities are on-chain, they involve network fees.

Through its in-built DEX, you can swap one crypto for another and see which coins are trending on Base. The DEX claims to get you the best price by checking over 75 DEXs. It supports over 2 million tokens across popular chains like Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Solana, BNB, and Avalanche.

The wallet also allows you to subscribe to updates from blockchain networks and crypto protocols. Additionally, you can create a watchlist to get price alerts. Its built-in NFT gallery lets you view your NFTs and their details, such as floor price, collection name, and unique attributes.

So, the Coinbase wallet has a ton of options to choose from and things to try, making it attractive for those who want to get into the thick of crypto. Most of these options are also available on the Kraken Wallet, except for the fiat on-and-off ramp, which is supported through the open-source WalletConnect.

Customer Support

Given how complex crypto is and that your funds are at stake here, it’s crucial that quality customer support is readily available. While customer support has never been crypto’s strong suit, things are changing, especially as crypto adoption continues to rise globally.

Much like fees, Coinbase is not best known for its support, either. To contact support within the Wallet app, you have to go to Settings and choose ‘Help.’ This will take you to the Coinbase exchange’s website, where you can search for its help center. You also have the option to chat with the virtual assistant through live chat support, but that would require first signing in.

The support on Coinbase is available in 25 languages and available in over 170 countries to cater to its global audience.

On Kraken Wallet, you can access the multi-language ‘Support’ from the settings section, where you’ll have two options.

The first option is the knowledge base, where you can search the company’s extensive documentation and go through the FAQs. Choosing this option will take you outside the app to Kraken’s official site, where you can also chat, message, and phone their customer service. However, when we used Kraken’s phone support, it was temporarily unavailable, and we were advised to contact the platform via live chat or submit a form.

When you choose the ‘contact us’ option, it will also direct you to Kraken support, where you will need to fill out a form with your email, issue, details, and any files you may want to share.

While neither of the wallets is reviewed on the popular review website Trustpilot, the exchanges are. Coinbase has a 1.9 rating based on more than 9,300 reviews, with complaints ranging from poor customer support to verification issues and account closure, among others.

Meanwhile, Kraken has a 1.4 rating based on about 2,300 reviews, with the majority complaining about account closures.

Regulation and Security

Now comes the most important part. You may think that making money is the hardest part, but in crypto, security is just as critical, if not more so.

The good news is that you’ve already taken the first crucial step toward crypto security by controlling your keys and crypto through a self-custodial wallet. Now, let’s address the main question: are these two wallets truly secure? Also, how do they compare in this crucial aspect?

First, let’s look into the regulatory compliance of these platforms. The exchanges themselves are regulated. Kraken has several licenses, including a Money Services Business with FinCEN and FINTRAC. Coinbase also has several money transmitter licenses in different US states.

However, with non-custodial wallets, you have full ownership of your assets and private keys, meaning you alone are responsible for their safekeeping. This entails managing your private keys by saving your Secret Recovery Phrase. It’s crucial to write it on paper—yes, on paper—and avoid using digital notes like Apple Notes, Google Sheets, or anything online. Never share it with a third party, as they could then access your wallet and assets.

Since there’s no third party entrusted with your funds’ safety, there’s no legal aspect involved. Non-custodial wallet services don’t require special licenses, authorization, or Know Your Customer (KYC).

What matters here are the best practices followed by the service providers, namely Coinbase and Kraken, two advanced trading platforms.

For starters, Coinbase Wallet supports cloud backups of your recovery phrase. For general account safety, it uses two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires entering a code sent to your phone or email address to verify your login.

Most importantly, Coinbase Wallet uses several security features to help protect you from malicious sites and phishing scams. These include token approval alerts to help you make an informed decision before completing a transaction and transaction previews for greater transparency and clarity.

Additionally, it features a decentralized application (dApp) blocklist comprising a mix of public and private databases to protect users from malicious dApps. It also manages spam tokens by hiding malicious assets and allowing users to report suspicious tokens.

Coinbase Wallet further supports multiple addresses, which gives you control over what should be public and private and how your assets are managed. Moreover, you can easily review and then cancel your existing dApp connections to limit your wallet’s exposure to online vulnerabilities.

Meanwhile, the Coinbase Wallet browser extension has been made compatible with the popular hardware device Ledger, adding yet another layer of safety to your assets.

Kraken Wallet here is engineered by the OG Kraken.com, which is known in the crypto industry as being one of the most secure cryptocurrency exchanges. Founded by Jesse Powell, Kraken has a successful track record of 13 years, during which it has established a name for itself. Now, the exchange aims to achieve the same with its wallet, starting by making it fully open source under the MIT license.

By making its code open source, Kraken Wallet offers transparency. With the code publicly available, anyone can see it, test it, or suggest changes to it. Additionally, continuous upgrades by members of the open-source community enhance Kraken Wallet’s security and agility. The main purpose behind having its wallet open source is to offer trust minimization and auditability.

While the private keys never leave the device, in the case of the Kraken wallet, the app uses the internet and additional software to sign transactions. This means that the private keys are exposed during the signing process within the memory of the sandboxed app environment.

“Despite the inability to perform the signing on the secure elements directly, which would offer increased protection, we have committed to providing an open-source mobile crypto wallet that prioritizes security, transparency, and user control,” said the firm, noting this makes it the first major exchange to allow developers to access and contribute to the code. Kraken will also be paying developers who find vulnerabilities through their open-source grant program to improve the wallets if there are bugs.

Kraken Wallet is built with Realm, React Native, an Electrum Server, and other FOSS projects. It also had its security audit by Trail of Bits.

The most stand-out feature of Kraken Wallet is that its backend runs over a proxy, which ensures your data is never shared with third-party services or companies. Moreover, the data collected will be the “absolute minimum” required to function as a wallet.

Kraken’s infrastructure proxies user activity, effectively concealing users’ IP addresses and safeguarding their identity and location from external exposure.

To further strengthen the wallet, Kraken provides added functionality, such as not allowing over-the-air updates, implementing a token list and reputation system, and detecting spam-related attacks, where spam is automatically archived in the user’s folder.

In general, the wallet app supports biometric or passcode authentication, database encryption, and a lockout mechanism. If the wrong password is entered, this mechanism triggers delays, effectively deterring brute-force attacks.

Lastly, as a user of a non-custodial wallet, you, too, must follow smart security practices, not just the wallet provider. This includes never clicking on random links, always verifying the transaction details, and being careful when interacting with dApps.

Remember, interacting with a smart contract that is malicious may completely wipe out your funds.

Additionally, educate yourself about common scams such as rug pulls, phishing, and Ponzi schemes. To limit potential losses, it’s also wise to create multiple wallets and distribute your funds across them.

Kraken Wallet vs Coinbase Wallet – Our Verdict

After discussing Kraken Wallet and Coinbase Wallet in great detail, we have reached a conclusion. So, which wallet is the best?

If you are a Coinbase exchange user looking to store crypto while accessing a variety of dApps, then Coinbase Wallet may be your best choice. It offers a convenient and relatively secure gateway into the vast world of crypto, complete with features such as buying crypto with fiat, earning rewards, collecting NFTs, advanced trading tools, accessing real-time price charts, and viewing your DeFi positions. However, these features may come at the cost of hefty fees.

On the other hand, if you are a beginner or a crypto trader who values simplicity and privacy, Kraken Wallet is for you. It allows you to send and receive crypto and track your tokens, NFTs, and DeFi positions across multiple blockchains—all in one place. With WalletConnect, you can also access thousands of popular dApps, while Kraken’s experienced customer support team provides the necessary assistance.

Backed by Kraken’s industry-leading security, this open-sourced, self-custodial wallet is your safest bet for securely exploring Web3.

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Gaurav Roy

Editor

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Gaurav Roy

Editor

Gaurav is a seasoned content specialist and researcher with over 5 years of remote work experience, engaging with clients across the US, UK, Australia, Israel, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and more. His expertise spans email outreach, in-depth research, and versatile content creation. He boasts over 600 research projects completed with AskWonder and has successfully led a team of research analysts for two years. He has a diverse portfolio, having supported companies like Casino Tops Online, Sweep Stakes Casino, PayGamble, Odds Scanner US, and Sambafoot UK, demonstrating his proficiency in the iGaming sector. He has contributed as a…

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