Kraken is an exchange, not a wallet service. We provide clients the ability to deposit funds to our corporate wallet for safekeeping while the funds are being exchanged or used for trading or staking*, but we do not provide a personal wallet service.
As with most exchanges, funds sent to deposit addresses are moved to cold storage and hot wallets. Withdrawals are handled by the hot wallet and not the deposit address; the sending address for withdrawals will be different than the deposit address.
Key differences:
1. Deposits
2. Airdrops, forks, & ICOs
3. Withdrawals & fees
4. Withdrawals & smart contracts
5. Withdrawals & returns
6. Kraken-to-Kraken transfers
What wallets are there?
While we do not recommend any particular wallets, hardware wallets do a great job of balancing usability with security for most mainstream clients.
Ledger and Trezor are two of the most popular makers of hardware wallets. You can visit the websites below to learn more about these security devices.
- Ledger: https://www.ledger.com
- Trezor: https://trezor.io
*An overview of eligibility criteria (including geographic restrictions) for On-chain staking can be found here.